Otters and Urchins: Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods 9781407306049, 9781407335544

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BAR S2027 2009 ORCHARD

Otters and Urchins: Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods

Trevor J. Orchard OTTERS AND URCHINS

BAR International Series 2027 2009 B A R

Otters and Urchins: Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods

Trevor J. Orchard

BAR International Series 2027 2009

ISBN 9781407306049 paperback ISBN 9781407335544 e-format DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781407306049 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

BAR

PUBLISHING

ABSTRACT This study examines changes in Haida economic adaptations during the late pre-contact and early contact periods in Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia). This was primarily achieved through the analysis of faunal and artifactual assemblages recovered from archaeological excavations at eight village sites in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site (southernmost Haida Gwaii). In addition, extensive syntheses of early historic accounts, ethnographic descriptions, and previous archaeological work provide context for the interpretation of the archaeological data and complementary data on the economic responses of the Haida to European contact and the maritime fur trade.

and 800 BP. These distinct economic adaptations, now widely demonstrated for southern Haida Gwaii, have been formalized as an earlier Xyuu daw Phase (ca. 2,000 BP to 1,000 BP) and a later Qayjuu Phase (ca. 1,000 BP to contact), both within the previously described late Graham Tradition. While the maritime fur trade increased the focus of the Haida on the hunting of sea otters, altered the Haida seasonal round, and introduced new items of material culture, it had relatively little impact on the Haida subsistence economy. Salmon continued to dominate Haida subsistence, while the majority of the introduced material culture was non-utilitarian or was incorporated into existing cultural practices. In contrast, European traders were forced to adopt a degree of Haida tradition into trade practices, and in many cases were dependent on the Haida to meet their own subsistence needs. More profound changes to Haida culture arose during the subsequent period of increasing European encroachment and settlement.

The new archaeological data presented in this volume, combined with previously published results, form the basis of a detailed description of the nature of Haida economic adaptations during the late pre-contact period (ca. 500 AD to 1774 AD). Most notably, these data clarify a previously recognized shift from a more generalized, rockfish-oriented economy to a more specialised, salmon-focused economy between 1,200 BP

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Daryl Fedje, Tommy Greene, Heather Johnstone, Cynthia Lake, Charlotte Mackie, Quentin Mackie, Adrienne Marr, Duncan McLaren, Nicole Smith, Martina Steffen, and Tim Sumpter. Field equipment was provided by Dr. Quentin Mackie of the University of Victoria, and by Parks Canada Archaeology. Susan Crockford, Becky Wigen, Gay Frederick and Max Friesen provided guidance and suggestions during the analysis of the 2002, 2003, and 2004 GHEAP faunal samples, and Becky Wigen was responsible for the analysis of the 2000 GHEAP pilot project fauna. Sarah Close, Danielle Desmarais, Laura Grad, Marina La Salle, Zoe Morris, Mike O'Rourke, and Gloria Spirou helped with the analysis of archaeological samples in the lab at UofT.

This volume represents a slightly modified and updated version of my PhD dissertation, completed at the University of Toronto, Canada, in 2007. The completion of this research, as with any undertaking of this magnitude, would not have been possible without the help and support of innumerable people. My supervisor, Dr. Gary Coupland, expanded my understanding and experience of Northwest Coast archaeology, provided countless positive suggestions during the course of my doctoral research, and was a thorough and meticulous editor during the writing of the dissertation from which the current volume is derived. Dr. Quentin Mackie was responsible for the 2000 pilot project that sparked this larger research project, for which I am very grateful, and he has continued to provide personal, logistical, and financial support throughout the project. I also owe a debt of gratitude to the other members of my supervisory committee, Dr. T. Max Friesen and Dr. Marti Latta. They have broadened my knowledge of anthropology through graduate courses and as supervisors for teaching assistantships, and have provided useful insight and comments that have strengthened this monograph. Dr. Ted Banning reviewed my dissertation as an internal evaluator, while Dr. Greg Monks was the external examiner. I thank them both for their insight and support in these positions.

Funding for the project was provided by the British Columbia Heritage Trust, the SSHRC/DFO Ocean Management Research Network Sustainability Node, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Parks Canada, and the University of Toronto, while logistical support was provided by the Parks Canada Wardens Service, the University of Toronto, and the University of Victoria. Aside from these direct contributions to the research project outlined in this volume, this study benefitted indirectly from the insights and support of many friends and colleagues. I have spent many hours discussing the finer, and not-so-fine, points of Northwest Coast archaeology with Joan Banahan, Terence Clark, Natasha Lyons, Mike O’Rourke, Katherine Patton, Kisha Supernant, and Mike White. Finally, I thank my parents, Kerry and Leona, my brother, Jeff, and my sister-in-law, Megan, for their unconditional love and support in everything I undertake. My wife, Gloria, has also helped me through the inevitable ups and downs and moments of stress that accompany the writing of a dissertation, and has been a constant source of love, support, and understanding.

I would like to thank the Council of the Haida Nation for their permission to conduct the archaeological component of this research project, and Parks Canada and the Archipelago Management Board for overseeing and facilitating the research. In particular, I would like to thank Judson Brown, Doug Burles, Sascha Jones, Scott Parker, Norm Sloan, and Barb Wilson for their support. In addition, Marty Magne and Daryl Fedje of Parks Canada helped facilitate the research. Ian Sumpter and Allan Davidson helped with the logistical organization and were invaluable members of the field crews. Other field crew included Helene Chabot, Tanya Collinson,

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TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT......................................................................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................................................................ ii LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................................................................... v LIST OF FIGURES............................................................................................................................................................ vi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH.................................................................... 3 2.1 Culture-Contact Studies.................................................................................................................................. 3 2.2 European Contact on the Northwest Coast...................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Holistic Archaeology....................................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 3. HAIDA GWAII ENVIRONMENT............................................................................................................ 11 3.1 Modern Geography and Environmental Setting............................................................................................ 11 Climate.................................................................................................................................................. 12 Fauna.................................................................................................................................................... 12 Flora...................................................................................................................................................... 14 3.2 Pre-European Geographical and Environmental History.............................................................................. 14 Biogeographic History.......................................................................................................................... 14 Sea-Level Change................................................................................................................................. 15 3.3 Changes to the Haida Gwaii Environment since European Contact............................................................. 16 Sea Otter Extirpation............................................................................................................................ 16 Other Impacts........................................................................................................................................ 18 3.4 Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site.................................................................... 19 CHAPTER 4. HAIDA ETHNOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................ 20 4.1 Language, Territory and Settlement.............................................................................................................. 20 4.2 Kinship and Social Organization.................................................................................................................. 21 4.3 Material Culture............................................................................................................................................ 22 4.4 Subsistence and Economy............................................................................................................................. 22 4.5 Haida History since European Contact......................................................................................................... 26 European Contact................................................................................................................................. 26 The Maritime Fur Trade....................................................................................................................... 26 Post-Maritime Fur Trade...................................................................................................................... 27 CHAPTER 5. ETHNOHISTORIC DATA........................................................................................................................ 30 5.1 Ethnohistoric Sources.................................................................................................................................... 30 5.2 Haida Economy and Society during the Early Contact Period..................................................................... 32 Insight into Traditional Haida Economy and Settlement..................................................................... 32 Trade Practices..................................................................................................................................... 37 Hunting, Processing and Trading of Sea Otters: Archaeological Implications................................... 39 Trade Goods.......................................................................................................................................... 42 Haida Women and Gender Roles during the Maritime Fur Trade....................................................... 44 5.3 Discussion: Changing Haida Culture and Economy as Seen Through Ethnohistoric Sources..................... 45 CHAPTER 6. PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND CULTURE HISTORY IN HAIDA GWAII..... 49 6.1 Historical Overview of Archaeological Research in Haida Gwaii................................................................ 49 6.2 Haida Gwaii Culture History......................................................................................................................... 51 6.3 Haida Subsistence Economy and Settlement on the Eve of European Contact............................................ 53 CHAPTER 7. ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA: THE GWAII HAANAS ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT............................................................................................................................................................ 55 7.1 Goals of the GHEAP..................................................................................................................................... 55 Late Graham Tradition Haida Culture and Economy.......................................................................... 55 Archaeological Correlates of Contact Period Economic Changes...................................................... 56 7.2 Methodology and Sample.............................................................................................................................. 57 7.3 Site Assessments........................................................................................................................................... 59 7.4 Overview of Site Excavations....................................................................................................................... 61 7.5 Stratigraphy and Features.............................................................................................................................. 62 7.6 Artifacts......................................................................................................................................................... 66 General Overview of Recovered Artifacts............................................................................................ 66 Red Turban Opercula Recovered from GHEAP Sites.......................................................................... 66 7.7 Dating of Site Components........................................................................................................................... 68 Sea Levels and Site Occupations.......................................................................................................... 68 Temporally Diagnostic Artifacts........................................................................................................... 68 Radiocarbon Dates................................................................................................................................ 70

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Other Chronological Data.................................................................................................................... 72 Discussion: Chronology of GHEAP Site Occupations......................................................................... 72 7.8 Vertebrate Faunal Remains........................................................................................................................... 74 General Overview of Vertebrate Assemblages..................................................................................... 74 Local Variability in Vertebrate Assemblages....................................................................................... 81 Indications of Changing Haida Subsistence Practices in Vertebrate Assemblages............................. 83 7.9 Invertebrate Faunal Remains......................................................................................................................... 90 General Overview of Invertebrate Assemblages................................................................................... 90 Local Variability in Invertebrate Assemblages..................................................................................... 92 Indications of Changing Haida Subsistence Practices in Invertebrate Assemblages.......................... 93 7.10 Discussion................................................................................................................................................... 97 Late Graham Tradition Haida Economy and Material Culture........................................................... 97 Changing Haida Economy during the Maritime Fur Trade Period................................................... 106 CHAPTER 8. SYNTHESIS AND DISCUSSION: CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN HAIDA ECONOMY DURING THE LATE HOLOCENE AND MARITIME FUR-TRADE PERIODS......................................... 110 8.1 The Late Graham Tradition......................................................................................................................... 110 Qayjuu Phase...................................................................................................................................... 111 Xyuu daw Phase.................................................................................................................................. 114 8.2 Haida Economy in the Maritime Fur-Trade Period..................................................................................... 115 CHAPTER 9. CONCLUSIONS...................................................................................................................................... 120 APPENDIX A. SITE ASSESSMENTS AND BASIC SITE INFORMATION.............................................................. 124 A.1 Guide to Site Summary Information.......................................................................................................... 125 A.2 Site Summaries........................................................................................................................................... 126 APPENDIX B. SITE EXCAVATIONS.......................................................................................................................... 137 B.1 General Excavation Techniques................................................................................................................. 137 B.2 Site 699T Excavations................................................................................................................................ 137 B.3 Site 717T Excavations................................................................................................................................ 141 B.4 Site 740T Excavations................................................................................................................................ 142 B.5 Site 781T Excavations................................................................................................................................ 143 B.6 Site 785T Excavations................................................................................................................................ 146 B.7 Site 923T Excavations................................................................................................................................ 149 B.8 Site 924T Excavations................................................................................................................................ 150 B.9 Site 1134T Excavations.............................................................................................................................. 154 APPENDIX C. ARTIFACT DESCRIPTIONS AND CLASSIFICATIONS.................................................................. 157 C.1 Site 610T (Xyuu daw ‘llnagaay) Artifacts.................................................................................................. 157 C.2 Site 699T (Qayjuu ‘llnagaay) Artifacts...................................................................................................... 157 C.3 Site 717T (7aydi ‘llnagaay) Artifacts......................................................................................................... 159 C.4 Site 781T (Kaidsu) Artifacts....................................................................................................................... 161 C.5 Site 785T (Xuud tsixwaas ‘llnagaay) Artifacts........................................................................................... 163 C.6 Site 923T (Rayran kun ‘llnagaay) Artifacts............................................................................................... 164 C.7 Site 924T (Q’iid ‘llnagaay) Artifacts......................................................................................................... 166 C.8 Site 1134T (Huulaagwaans ‘llnagaay?) Artifacts...................................................................................... 168 APPENDIX D. VERTEBRATE FAUNAL DATA........................................................................................................ 172 APPENDIX E. BULK SAMPLE ANALYSIS AND INVERTEBRATE DATA.......................................................... 186 E.1 Site 699T Bulk Samples............................................................................................................................. 187 E.2 Site 717T Bulk Samples............................................................................................................................. 191 E.3 Site 740T Bulk Samples............................................................................................................................. 192 E.4 Site 781T Bulk Samples............................................................................................................................. 194 E.5 Site 785T Bulk Samples............................................................................................................................. 197 E.6 Site 923T Bulk Samples............................................................................................................................. 201 E.7 Site 924T Bulk Samples............................................................................................................................. 202 E.8 Site 1134T Bulk Samples........................................................................................................................... 206 E.9 Invertebrate Remains from Excavation Levels.......................................................................................... 207 REFERENCES CITED................................................................................................................................................... 212

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LIST OF TABLES Table 5.1. Summary of late 18th and early 19th century voyages among the Haida.......................................................... 31 Table 5.2. Haida subsistence and trade resources mentioned in 18th century sources...................................................... 36 Table 5.3. Estimates of numbers of otter furs taken from the Northwest Coast................................................................ 41 Table 5.4. Numbers of European and American trading vessels engaged in the maritime fur trade on the Northwest Coast in the years 1778 through 1825................................................................................................................. 42 Table 7.1. Summary data for all sites assessed during the four GHEAP seasons............................................................. 60 Table 7.2. Summary data for sites excavated during the GHEAP..................................................................................... 60 Table 7.3. Summary of features documented during GHEAP excavations....................................................................... 65 Table 7.4. Summary of all artifacts recovered from GHEAP excavations........................................................................ 67 Table 7.5. Red turban (Astraea gibberosa) opercula recovered from GHEAP sites......................................................... 68 Table 7.6. Summary of temporally diagnostic historic artifacts recovered from GHEAP sites........................................ 69 Table 7.7. Radiocarbon dates from all excavated GHEAP sites........................................................................................ 71 Table 7.8. Summary of chronological data for all of the excavated GHEAP contexts..................................................... 73 Table 7.9. Vertebrate taxa recovered from all GHEAP assemblages................................................................................ 75 Table 7.10. Relative proportions and NISP for all identified fish remains from GHEAP assemblages............................ 77 Table 7.11. Relative proportions and NISP for all identified bird remains from GHEAP assemblages........................... 78 Table 7.12. Relative proportions and NISP for all identified mammal remains from GHEAP assemblages.................... 79 Table 7.13. Summary data for vertebrate faunal assemblages related to site setting and local ecology........................... 81 Table 7.14. Comparison of Alcid remains from GHEAP assemblages............................................................................. 83 Table 7.15. Temporal trends in relative proportions of vertebrate taxa for exposed site contexts.................................... 84 Table 7.16. Temporal trends in relative proportions of vertebrate taxa for protected sites 781T (unit 1) and 785T........ 85 Table 7.17. Temporal trends in relative proportions of vertebrate taxa for protected sites 717T, 924T, and 1134T........ 86 Table 7.18. Temporal trends in relative proportions of vertebrate taxa for site 781T, excavation units 2, 3, and 4......... 87 Table 7.19. Sample sizes and relative proportions of vertebrate taxa for site 699T by major temporal period................ 88 Table 7.20. Sample sizes and relative proportions of vertebrate taxa for sites 781T & 785T by temporal period........... 89 Table 7.21. Sample sizes and relative proportions of vertebrate taxa for site 924T by major temporal period................ 90 Table 7.22. Invertebrate taxa recovered from GHEAP bulk samples and representative shell samples........................... 91 Table 7.23. Relative proportions of the invertebrate taxa recovered from analysed GHEAP bulk samples..................... 92 Table 7.24. Temporal trends in relative proportions of invertebrate taxa for exposed site contexts................................. 93 Table 7.25. Temporal trends in relative proportions of invertebrate taxa for protected sites 781T and 785T.................. 94 Table 7.26. Temporal trends in relative proportions of invertebrate taxa for protected sites 924T and 1134T................ 94 Table 7.27. Total weights and relative proportions of invertebrate taxa for site 699T by major temporal period............ 95 Table 7.28. Total weights and relative proportions of invertebrate taxa for sites 781T & 785T by temporal period....... 95 Table 7.29. Total weights and relative proportions of invertebrate taxa for site 924T by major temporal period........... 96 Table 7.30. Relative proportions of the invertebrate taxa from bulk samples from group 1 shell middens (villages) from southern Gwaii Haanas............................................................................................................................... 98 Table 7.31. Summary data for vertebrate faunal assemblages from southern Gwaii Haanas relating to site setting and local ecology................................................................................................................................................. 99 Table 7.32. Sites and components from Haida Gwaii with well analysed vertebrate faunal assemblages....................... 99 Table 7.33. Relative proportions for all identified fish remains from previously reported Haida assemblages.............. 100 Table 7.34. Relative proportions for all identified bird remains from previously reported Haida assemblages............. 101 Table 7.35. Relative proportions for all identified mammal remains from previously reported Haida assemblages..... 102 Table 7.36. Temporal trends in relative proportions of vertebrate taxa for select sites from southern Gwaii Haanas.... 108

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LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1. Location of Haida Gwaii on the Northwest Coast and detail of the Haida Gwaii archipelago....................... 11 Figure 3.2. Modern physiography of Haida Gwaii............................................................................................................ 12 Figure 3.3. Reconstructed sea-level curve for southern Haida Gwaii............................................................................... 16 Figure 3.4. Red sea urchin barren, Ellen Island, Gwaii Haanas, July 2004....................................................................... 17 Figure 4.1. Young humpback drift-whale off the southeast coast of Moresby Island, July 2004..................................... 23 Figure 4.2. Seasonally available resources utilised by the Haida according to ethnographic accounts............................ 23 Figure 5.1. Map of Haida Gwaii and the Northwest Coast, showing locations mentioned in the cited ethnohistoric accounts............................................................................................................................................................... 32 Figure 6.1. Map of Haida Gwaii showing locations of previous archaeological research mentioned in the text.............. 49 Figure 6.2. Comparison of current Haida Gwaii culture sequence to the initial Haida Gwaii sequence proposed by Fladmark and to a general sequence for the northern Northwest Coast.............................................................. 51 Figure 7.1. Ecological and economic relationships resulting from the maritime fur trade and the extirpation of sea otters.................................................................................................................................................................... 56 Figure 7.2. Map of Gwaii Haanas study area with locations of all sites assessed during the four GHEAP field seasons................................................................................................................................................................. 59 Figure 7.3. Map of Gwaii Haanas showing the locations of all excavated GHEAP sites................................................. 61 Figure 7.4. Site 699T plan map......................................................................................................................................... 61 Figure 7.5. Site 717T plan map......................................................................................................................................... 62 Figure 7.6. Site 740T plan map......................................................................................................................................... 62 Figure 7.7. Site 781T plan map......................................................................................................................................... 62 Figure 7.8. Site 785T plan map......................................................................................................................................... 63 Figure 7.9. Site 923T plan map......................................................................................................................................... 63 Figure 7.10. Site 924T plan map....................................................................................................................................... 63 Figure 7.11. Site 1134T plan map..................................................................................................................................... 64 Figure 7.12. Typical stratigraphy encountered during GHEAP excavations.................................................................... 64 Figure 7.13. Stratigraphic profile of the south wall of excavation unit 3 at site 924T...................................................... 65 Figure 7.14. Stratigraphic profile of the east wall of excavation unit 2 at site 785T........................................................ 65 Figure 7.15. Chinese coin (699T5A2a-2) showing the visible details of the inscription.................................................. 69 Figure 7.16. Overview of the chronology of the excavated GHEAP sites........................................................................ 72 Figure 7.17. Zones of alcid utilization in Gwaii Haanas................................................................................................... 83 Figure 7.18. Map of Haida Gwaii showing locations of previously reported vertebrate faunal assemblages.................. 98 Figure 7.19. Ward’s hierarchical clustering for all vertebrate assemblages (all data, by class)..................................... 103 Figure 7.20. Ward’s hierarchical clustering for all vertebrate assemblages (all data, by total NISP)............................ 103 Figure 7.21. Ward’s hierarchical clustering for all vertebrate assemblages (no small taxa, by total NISP).................. 104 Figure 7.22. Radiocarbon age estimates for faunal assemblages from villages and large middens in Haida Gwaii...... 105 Figure 8.1. Revised culture historical sequence for Haida Gwaii incorporating the Qayjuu and Xyuu daw Phases from the Gwaii Haanas region.......................................................................................................................... 111

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CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION Northwest Coast First Nations are perhaps the world's best known examples of complex hunter-gatherers (Ames and Maschner 1999; Matson 2003; Matson and Coupland 1995). While agriculture may have been practised on a small scale by some Northwest Coast groups in pre-contact times (Deur 2002a, 2002b; Deur and Turner 2005), and slightly more extensive agricultural practices were adopted amongst several groups following contact (e.g., Suttles 1987), traditional Northwest Coast aboriginal groups relied primarily on hunting, fishing and gathering to meet their subsistence needs. Northwest Coast First Nations ultimately, however, developed ranked societies with clear class distinctions, characteristics usually associated with the development of intensive agriculture. The development of complexity has typically been argued to arise from the existence of abundant, storable resources on the Northwest Coast that could form the basis for surplus production. Most commonly these arguments have focussed on the seasonal abundance of anadromous salmon, which can be harvested in large numbers and processed for storage and surplus (but see Monks 1987). Though the ethnographic-period cultures of the Northwest Coast can thus be generally characterised as complex, stratified, hunting-fishing-gathering societies, the majority of which relied heavily on salmon (Donald 2003; Drucker 1955, 1965), the long-term development of these characteristics is relatively poorly understood and is likely variable across the culture area. Furthermore, the primary ethnographic sources for the region date from the very late 19th and early 20th centuries (e.g., Boas 1889, 1921; Drucker 1951; Hill-Tout 1907; Swanton 1905a), following a century or more of economic and cultural change resulting from a steadily increasing European presence on the coast (e.g., Fisher 1992). The relatively late collection of these ethnographic data, as well as a tendency for early ethnographers to focus on the collection of oral histories and observations of social organization to the exclusion of other aspects of culture and economy, has resulted in a general lack of basic data on traditional subsistence economies and material cultures. Garfield, for example, following an attempt to synthesize information on Haida and Tlingit economic practices in southeast Alaska, states that “one of the striking facts to emerge was the lack of precise published data on the basic economy of the Haidas and Tlingits, and further study and field work are therefore urgent” (1945: 626). Expanding this sentiment into the early contact period, Garfield goes on to suggest that “seals and otters were especially sought for their furs, and it would be interesting to know what effect commercial fur hunting had on earlier customs” (1945: 627). Joyce Wike also echoes this problem, stating that: We still do not possess a detailed and unequivocal picture of Northwest Coast economic history in the fur trade periods. At the same time, the nature of the indigenous society and economy has virtually forced students to search for fur-trade effects in their ethnographic research and to refer to the trade when discussing the culture of the area as a whole, the situation of specific tribes, or

the nature of various institutions. It must be emphasized not only that our findings are thus far tentative, but also that they are based in the main upon these ethnographic reconstructions of history; that is, upon informants’ descriptions and evaluations of the economic situation prior to and after the arrival of Europeans (Wike 1958: 1086). It has also become increasingly clear, as research on the nature of pre-contact Northwest Coast cultures has accumulated, that long term patterns of economic and cultural development are highly variable, both temporally and geographically, across the culture area (e.g., Ames and Maschner 1999; Cannon and Yang 2006; Orchard 2005b). This study aims to examine one small piece of this complex puzzle, and, by so doing, to contribute to our ever expanding understanding of the variability and development of Northwest Coast cultures more generally. Specifically, I aim to examine changes, or the lack of change, in the economy of the Haida, the aboriginal occupants of the Queen Charlotte Islands (Haida Gwaii) on the northern Northwest Coast, during the early contact and maritime fur trade periods. This general research goal can be more pointedly phrased as a specific research question: How did European contact and the maritime fur trade affect the Haida economy? Critical to an examination of changing economy during the early contact period is a solid understanding of the pre-contact economic baseline from which these changes, if any, were made. Additionally, the nature of the pre-contact Haida economy dictated the degree to which the Haida were affected or unaffected by the onset of the maritime fur trade. As such, this research also aims to address the question: What was the general character and diversity of the Haida subsistence economy and Haida material culture during the Late Graham Tradition (ca. 2,000 BP to contact)? Based on these research questions, it is possible to outline a series of hypotheses summarising the nature of pre-contact and contact period economies and changes. The maritime fur trade period may have completely changed the nature and focus of the Haida subsistence economy, it may have had little or no effect, or the effects may have been intermediate between these two extremes. Sea otters, a keystone species, were extirpated from the waters surrounding Haida Gwaii, and in fact from much of the Northwest Coast, after several decades of the maritime fur trade, and this undoubtedly initiated more indirect changes to local ecosystems. The degree to which the maritime fur trade directly affected the Haida economy is thus dependent on the nature and focus of the pre-contact economy, and on the degree to which the Haida became immediately dependent on introduced trade goods. An understanding of the changes in the Haida Gwaii ecosystem resulting from participation in the maritime fur trade is important to understanding the changes in Haida adaptation that occurred during the early contact period. As

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Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods economy and the changes that occurred in that economy through the early contact period. Finally, Chapter 9 provides a summary of the major insights and conclusions of this project in a broader anthropological context, and explores gaps in our knowledge and prospects for future work.

Power et al. (1996: 613) indicate, “poor knowledge of the structure of and dynamics of natural ecosystems before massive human impacts often limits our ability to understand changes,” a situation which “has been aggravated by the tragic loss of knowledge of indigenous peoples of their own natural ecosystems.” Archaeology, with its ability to provide long-term records of change in human economic adaptation, provides a useful framework for understanding both the pre-contact state of the Haida economy, and the economic and ecological changes that occurred following European contact and the initiation of the maritime fur trade. Additionally, given the focus of much of this research on the early European contact period, early historic sources and ethnographic sources on the Haida are also particularly relevant, and these sources can usefully be applied without the pitfalls associated with the use of post-contact ethnographies as analogues for precontact archaeological interpretations (e.g., Acheson 1998; Ford 1990; Trigger 1980, 1981, 1989b; Wobst 1978). The research questions outlined above are thus addressed through a combination of archaeological excavation and analysis and detailed review and synthesis of ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources. To provide broader applicability and a more theoretically sound basis for interpretation, these analyses and the interpretations that resulted are couched in a framework of culture-contact studies.

Through this synthesis of archaeological, historic, and ethnographic data relevant to the question of continuity and change in Haida subsistence adaptations through the late pre-contact and early contact periods, this study aims to contribute both to our specific archaeological and historic understanding of Northwest Coast culture history, and to issues of more general anthropological concern. On the most specific level, this research contributes to our basic understanding of Haida subsistence practices in the late precontact and early contact periods. This is an aspect of Haida life that is under-represented in previous ethnographic and archaeological studies in the area. This project also contributes to understanding of more general issues of Northwest Coast cultural development. In particular, as discussed above, a strong emphasis has been placed on the nature of subsistence economies in theories surrounding the rise of cultural complexity on the Northwest Coast. The economic focus of the current project, in addition to a temporal focus on a critical period in the development of the ethnographic patterns of Northwest Coast cultures, makes this work highly relevant to testing and revising these theories of cultural complexity in the culture area. Furthermore, given the prominent role played by Northwest Coast cultures in more global discussions of hunter-gatherer adaptations, this study has relevance well beyond the scope of the Northwest Coast.

This volume is organized into nine chapters that begin with the general theoretical, methodological, and environmental contexts for the research. I then sequentially examine each of the three major sources of data, ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and archaeological, working ultimately towards a coherent, synthetic story of continuity and change in Haida economy through the late pre-contact and early contact periods. Theories of culture-contact studies, and the methodological approach of holistic archaeology are outlined in Chapter 2. Chapter 3 provides an overview of the environment and geography of the study area both in terms of the current state of Haida Gwaii and the long-term history of the development of this region. Our ethnographic understanding of Haida culture is reviewed in Chapter 4, with particular emphasis on ethnographic descriptions of the Haida subsistence economy. Chapter 5 provides a detailed examination of early historic accounts relevant to the questions of pre-contact Haida economy and changes to that economy through the maritime fur trade period. Previous archaeological work in Haida Gwaii and our current knowledge of Haida culture history are examined in Chapter 6 to provide a context for the archaeological research conducted for this study. Chapter 7 presents the results of the current archaeological research, including the results of excavations at 8 village sites in southeastern Haida Gwaii, compares these results to previous archaeological data from the region, and examines the relevance of these data to the larger research questions under examination. More extensive presentations of the archaeological data accumulated through these excavations and the subsequent analyses are presented in Appendices A through E. The ethnographic, historic, and archaeological lines of evidence are then synthesised and discussed in Chapter 8 to provide a coherent picture of the nature of the pre-contact Haida

The research described in this volume also has broad anthropological relevance as a case study of culture contact. Specifically, the results of this program of research have implications for our understanding of the changing adaptations of indigenous peoples in contexts of European contact. Though such issues have seen considerable interest in recent years (Crowell 1997; Lightfoot 1995; Lightfoot and Martinez 1995; Rubertone 2000; Stein 2002), they have only rarely been examined through the analysis of faunal remains (e.g., Butler 2000; Friesen 1995). Related to this is the utility of the current study to broadening our understanding of the delay in “dependency” that occurred amongst many North American indigenous groups in the face of European contact. This research aims to examine and document the adaptations of First Nations at first contact prior to the major negative impacts that followed.

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CHAPTER 2. THEORETICAL AND METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH A variety of culture-contact studies provide useful contexts for framing and understanding the interactions that occurred between the Haida and Europeans during the early contact period and the maritime fur trade. Prior to European contact, the Haida were well adapted to local ecological conditions, with most of their economy revolving around locally available resources. With European contact new sources of wealth and new forms of material and subsistence goods became available. Certain local resources were utilised more intensively, particularly sea otters which formed the primary focus of the maritime fur trade, and previously unavailable resources from non-local contexts were incorporated into the Haida economy (Gibson 1988). Changes in scheduling (Flannery 1972) associated with the increased focus on sea otter hunting, and ecological changes that occurred in nearshore waters surrounding Haida Gwaii upon the ultimate extirpation of sea otters (Chapter 3), also likely impacted the Haida subsistence economy to an unknown degree. These historical and ecological issues in the Haida context are discussed in more detail in subsequent chapters. This chapter aims to provide a broad, general discussion of the theoretical and methodological issues used to frame the present research.

unidirectional, is the ability to use the relative frequencies of European goods in contact-period artifact assemblages as a means of ordering sites chronologically. The use of such artifact-based chronological indicators is particularly relevant to the European contact period on the Northwest Coast. The rapid, short-term nature of this period of initial contact and change makes dating of archaeological materials relatively difficult, as radiocarbon dates do not provide the temporal resolution necessary for examining such time periods (Hobler 1986). As such, artifactual indicators of chronological age are of particular importance. Though these approaches have been criticised for not considering the impact of aboriginal trade networks on the extended distribution of European goods (Ray 1978), others have demonstrated the applicability of such methods providing that adequate archaeological data are considered from a variety of contexts (Orser and Owsley 1982; Orser 1984). A refined version of the use of European material culture as a chronological tool is provided by Hobler (1986) in his study of contact-period sites on the central coast of British Columbia. Hobler (1986) suggests that a seriation approach to artifact assemblages from the contact period may provide a means of at least placing contact-period sites into relative chronological order. He tests this approach, involving a seriation based on Spearman's rank order correlations, with a sample of seven sites from the central coast of British Columbia and one site from the Queen Charlotte Islands, and the results seemingly support the validity of the seriation approach, as the chronological ordering of the sites in his analysis agree with results from more traditional chronological methods (Hobler 1986). Another example of the use of seriation in the chronological analysis and interpretation of trade-period material culture is provided by Crowell's (1997) analysis of trade beads from Three Saints Harbour and 16 other contact-period sites in Alaska. By providing a seriation of the extensive trade bead assemblages from these sites, Crowell (1997) not only provides an enviable analysis of the trade bead assemblages from his own study material, but also provides a tool that will be useful in the analysis and dating of subsequent assemblages from contact-period sites in Alaska and beyond (Bundy et al. 2003; Pyszczyk 1999; Sheehan 1999).

2.1 Culture-Contact Studies A variety of approaches have been applied to the study of European/hunter-gatherer contact, and a number of previous authors (Friesen 1995; Hoover 1992; Lightfoot and Martinez 1995; Stein 2002) have provided good general reviews of these approaches. The current review, though certainly drawing on these previous works, focuses specifically on archaeological approaches. While the approaches described here have not been limited in application to this somewhat narrow context, these approaches have been successfully applied to the study of European/hunter-gatherer contact as exemplified by the numerous case studies outlined below. Acculturation was one of the first and perhaps the most widely applied models for the study of culture-contact in European colonial contexts (Friesen 1995; Stein 2002), and it set the stage for many of the more developed theories that followed. Acculturation can be simply defined as “change in any society which results from contact with another society” (Friesen 1995: 6). In archaeological studies of acculturation, specifically in contexts of European contact with indigenous societies in North America and elsewhere, European goods have often been used as indicators of the degree of acculturation or change represented in archaeological populations (e.g., Farnsworth 1989, 1992; Lightfoot et al. 1998; Rubertone 2000). Lightfoot, for example, states that “the assumption underlying the use of these measures was that the greater the percentage of European goods in Native American contexts (houses, work areas, middens), then the greater the degree of acculturation” (1995: 206; cf. Hoover 1989). An obvious result of such a view, particularly combined with the often unspoken assumption that acculturation was inevitable and

More advanced analyses of contact-period artifact assemblages have moved beyond simple acculturative models to incorporate notions such as the differential adoption of artifact types and the bi-directional impact of contacting cultures on the material culture of both groups (Farnsworth 1992; Hoover 1992; Rogers 1990). These approaches have often attempted to create models for the general study of culture change and material culture in contact situations. Farnsworth (1989, 1992), for example, divides contact period material culture into ten classes that group artifacts based on the traditional or introduced nature of their materials, methods of manufacture, and function (cf. Hoover 1989, 1992). He then proposes a number of formulae that, through a comparison of the relative

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Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods frequencies of these various artifact types, provide measures of the continuity of traditional culture, the continuity of the new culture, the intensity of cultural exchange, the availability of imported goods, and the degree to which the new culture is supplanting the unchanged traditional culture (Farnsworth 1992: 27). Rather than simply considering the adoption of European material culture by aboriginal groups, such models incorporate changes to traditional material culture or art that have resulted from European contact (Head and Fullagar 1997; Martindale and Jurakic 2006). Mullins and Paynter (2000), for example, have noted that motifs represented on argillite artifacts carved by the Haida changed throughout the contact period, representing changing Haida perspectives on Europeans and on the changing markets for trade and sale of such items (Mullins and Paynter 2000).

has led us to what we believe is a valid hypothesis. It would appear that during the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, Indians did not perceive European copper or glass as something new. Rather, imported copper and glass-wares were assimilated into traditional native ideological systems alongside native copper, exotic siliceous stones, and shells as material components of great ritual significance. It was that conventional but highly charged ideological value, not some Indian psychosis, that made European trade goods so enormously attractive (1986: 315). Though this hypothesis was formulated for 16th and 17th century cases in North America, and does not specifically address the lack of initial adoption of utilitarian goods, it does provide a more generally applicable model for explaining the sometimes difficult to fathom preferences of different players in contact situations. Combined with Marshall and Maas’ (1997) indication that groups will select and reject items based on their own logic, Miller and Hamell's (1986) hypothesis suggests that aboriginal groups often selected items that had ritual or symbolic significance as such items fit more easily into their existing world views (cf. Burley 1989; Fitting 1976; Robinson et al. 1985).

Models such as that of Farnsworth (1992) result from the acknowledgement of a number of problems that arose from early acculturation approaches. One such problem involves the differential adoption of various classes of introduced goods, or the varied adoption of such goods by different groups or individuals (Hobler 1986; Kent 1983; Marshall and Maas 1997). Hobler articulates this problem within a Northwest Coast context, stating that: There may be a significant time lag involved in the diffusion of specific artifacts and artifact complexes across cultural boundaries. Thus, at any one point the inventories of traded items on Native sites may differ significantly from those on European frontier forts and settlements of the same age. For example, on the Northwest Coast European agricultural implements, most wood-working tools, and fishing gear are all items for which Natives had little use during the first century or so of trade contact (Hobler 1986:16). Expanding on these notions, Marshall and Maas indicated that, “any decision to incorporate a new item into an existing repertoire of material culture is socially mediated and no matter how unequal the relative power of two contacting groups, each will select and reject items according to their own logic” (1997: 275; cf. Bamforth 1993; Friesen 1995; Hoover 1989; Miller and Hamell 1986; Morantz 1980; Rogers 1990, 1993). In a case study combining a review of ethnohistoric sources with the examination of pottery remains from archaeological projects at Bella Bella, on the central British Columbia coast, and Nootka Sound, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, Marshall and Maas (1997) conclude that European ceramics were first adopted for ceremonial use in potlatches, and were only later adopted for more utilitarian purposes. Such a pattern has been widely demonstrated, and in generally discussing European-First Nations contact in North America, Miller and Hamell indicate that “both the historical and archaeological records indicate that the [initial] impact of early European utilitarian trade goods on practical subsistence was negligible” (1986: 314; cf. Fitting 1976; Kaplan 1985). Miller and Hamell further state that: Our analysis of historical, archaeological, ethnographic, and psychological materials

Alternatively, many utilitarian trade goods may not have been commonly adopted because, despite the contrary views of the traders and early observers, they offered no real advantage over traditional goods. Townsend (1983), for example, and in contrast to untested but prevailing views (A. Ray 1998; D. Ray 1975), has demonstrated that firearms prior to 1850 were at best comparable to bow and arrow and throwing board technologies (cf. Wike 1951). Similarly, seemingly utilitarian goods that were traded into aboriginal societies were often used in unpredictable ways, or were reworked into traditional forms. Perhaps most commonly, iron items were regularly substituted for traditional raw materials, and were reworked into traditional utilitarian forms (Jordan 1978; Wike 1951). These notions are summed up by Morantz (1980: 46): That the introduction of metal goods and the gun refined the Indians’ hunting tools and methods is indisputable but it did not eliminate a technology already honed to the vicissitudes of the environment. ‘Supplement’ rather than ‘supplant’ would more appropriately describe the impact of the new technology. In many cases, then, even when European material culture was readily adopted by indigenous peoples, these new items had little to no effect on traditional patterns of subsistence and culture (Morantz 1992). In contrast, however, the introduction of horses amongst many North American groups can be seen as an example of the introduction of a new commodity or technology that completely changed the subsistence economies and settlement patterns of these groups (Carson 1995; Steward 1941). World systems theory and frontier models are in many ways

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Theoretical and Methodological Approach related to and derivative of earlier, and simpler, acculturation models. World systems theory was first presented as a coherent theory by Wallerstein (1974, 1980), though aspects of this approach were previously suggested by others (Wike 1958; and see the discussion of dependency theory below), and the theory has been further influenced by numerous subsequent works. Wolf (1982: x), for example, aimed to demonstrate that “human societies and cultures would not be properly understood until we learned to visualize them in their mutual interrelationships and interdependencies in space and time.” Though it has been modified and applied in prehistoric, pre-capitalist contexts (Blanton and Feinman 1984; Friesen 1995), the primary archaeological application of world systems approaches, as anticipated by the original structure of the model, has been in contexts relating to the expansion of the European capitalist world system (Crowell 1997; Farnsworth 1989; Friesen 1995; Hall 1986; Lightfoot et al. 1993, 1998; Woodhouse-Beyer 1997). The model is based on a hierarchy of core states, namely major colonial powers such as Great Britain and France, who were linked to peripheral regions, such as colonial America, either directly or indirectly through semi-peripheral states, such as Spain and Portugal. In an archaeological context, World Systems theory provides a framework for modelling the interrelationships that occurred between contacting cultures, and for interpreting the presence of trade goods and colonial features in archaeological assemblages.

resources during the contact period caused the indigenous world-system to increase in depth and breadth, and to begin to change in pattern of internal differentiation” (1995: ii). Lightfoot (1995) and others (Farnsworth 1992; Hoover 1989; Lyons and Papadopoulos 2002; Mann 1999; Miller 1993; Rogers 1990; Stein 2002; Wilson and Rogers 1993) have criticised acculturation models, and derivative models such as world systems theory, primarily because acculturation theories generally view change as unidirectional and native peoples as passive in their adoption of the introduced culture. As stated by Upton, acculturation models tend to make the false assumption that “artifacts were so deeply embedded in culture that to accept [the introduced artifacts] was to accept the [introduced culture]” (1996: 1). Furthermore, acculturation studies tend to focus on the results of contact, and do not generally address the processes of culture change that occur in contact situations (Friesen 1995). As such, considerable recent work has focussed on cultural persistence among groups “contacted” by Europeans (e.g., Mann 1999), and on the bior multi-directional interactions between contacting groups in “pluralistic” settings (e.g., Lightfoot 1995). The notion of the uni-directionality of culture change in contact situations is also closely tied to the longstanding belief that European contact sparked massive and in some cases disastrous changes in aboriginal groups that had long been relatively static and stable (Ewen 1996). Though aspects of European contact, such as the introduction of contagious diseases, undoubtedly affected native North American populations (Boyd 1985, 1994; Butler 2000; Deagan 1985), the scale of this impact among some aboriginal groups has been questioned (Ewen 1996; Mitchem 1990; Wilson and Rogers 1993). Furthermore, rather than representing static cultures, Ewen argues that within many aboriginal societies “changes were already in progress when the Europeans arrived” (1996: 41). European contact, then, provided a context in which changes that were already underway in pre-contact times were simply accelerated or altered by European influences (Acheson 1998; Engelbrecht 1985; Hester 1989). Similarly, the concepts of trade and exchange did not revolutionize interactions between aboriginal groups; rather European trade goods were in many cases incorporated into pre-existing aboriginal trade networks (Orser 1984; Orser and Owsley 1982; Ray 1978; Waselkov 1993).

Aron Crowell's (1997) work at Three Saints Harbour on Kodiak Island provides an interesting and relevant case study of the application of world systems theory in an archaeological context. Crowell (1997) explicitly employs a world systems framework to generate archaeologically testable hypotheses for the analysis of archaeological data from the Three Saints Harbour site on Kodiak Island, occupied during Russian colonial expansion into western North America during the maritime fur trade period (cf. Veltre 1999). Ultimately, Crowell (1997) demonstrated that the Russian settlers and traders in Russian America were “tied to a Russian Siberian/Far Eastern system that depended upon trade with China, links with European Russia, and local (Siberian) production of goods” and that “the goods the Russians brought to Kodiak in the early years originated almost wholly within this Russian network” (Sheehan 1999: 737). Friesen (1995) combined world systems theory with aspects of previous hunter-gatherer studies and cultural ecological approaches to generate a general model of change in hunter-gatherer world systems. Like Crowell (1997), Friesen (1995) used a world systems model to generate a series of general hypotheses widely applicable to contexts of European/hunter-gatherer contact, and further identifies archaeological correlates of these hypothesized changes in hunter-gatherer society. This model was tested with a case study from Herschel Island on the northern coast of the Yukon Territory of Canada, exploring contact period changes among the Qikiqtarukmiut (Friesen 1995). Friesen’s analysis of archaeological data from Herschel Island ultimately indicated that “the increasing availability of preciosities and the changing distribution of subsistence

Though perhaps providing a broader, more integrative perspective than more simple acculturative approaches, world systems theory can easily fall into the same problem of viewing influence and change as largely unidirectional. Lightfoot and Martinez highlight three major problems with frontier studies and world systems approaches: The first problem concerns insular models of culture change that treat frontiers as passive recipients of core innovations. The second problem involves frontier studies conducted primarily at a single scale of analysis–that of the macroscale. The third problem revolves around a common archaeological expectation

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Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods that frontier boundaries will be visible as discrete clusters of breaks in the spatial distribution of diagnostic material objects, often in a temporally static framework (1995: 472). Stein further argues that world systems approaches neglect the role of human agency in contact situations, as the assumptions of world systems theory “eliminate or minimize the roles of polities or groups in the ‘periphery,’ local production and local exchange, local agency, and internal dynamics of developmental change” (2002: 904). Perhaps the most problematic aspect of typical applications of world systems theory involves the tendency to approach contact situations as peripheries uni-directionally influenced by the dominant core, while neglecting or undervaluing the reciprocal influence that groups in the periphery can have on the core or on core representatives. Some authors have argued, for example, that Europeans exercised substantially less control than previously assumed (Ray 1980; Stein 2002), and in some contact contexts the colonial representatives were in fact largely dependent on native peoples for their survival (Gibson 1978; Krech 1976, 1987; Morantz 1980, 1992; Warburton and Scott 1985).

of well-integrated nation-states on one another while dependency, which is closer to the ‘dependencia’ tradition, involves a more complex set of relations centering on the incorporation of less well developed, less homogeneous societies into the global division of labor” (1978: 13). Krech has commented on the multiple meanings of dependence in the context of the fur trade in the northwestern Subarctic: Perhaps, for this region and time, it is best to conceptualize dependence not as a political scientist or world-system theorist would, but instead as simple reliance on others. If we do this, it is possible to argue that the Hudson’s Bay Company was at times dependent on the Kutchin (1987: 270). Aside from forcing a conscious consideration of the meaning of dependency and related terms, early dependency theorists also highlighted the complex historical roots of dependency and underdevelopment. In the words of McDonald (1994: 171) “an important contribution of the dependency theorists was their thesis that development problems could not be studied in isolation from the history of capitalist development” (cf. White 1983). In the North American context, dependency theory has been applied to similar contexts of contemporary underdevelopment amongst First Nations and Native American groups (Anders 1980; Boxberger 1988; McDonald 1994; White 1983). According to Boxberger, “these studies look at the underdevelopment of Indians...as the result of dependency and follow the view that the poverty and lack of opportunity for Indians can be directly attributed to their political and economic dependency on the larger society” (1988: 162). Recognition that the historical “roots” of this dependency (White 1983) began with first European contact and continued through the historic period to contemporary times has expanded the range of contexts in which dependency theory is useful. Notably, numerous authors have noted that, while the majority of North American indigenous groups ultimately became dependent on the colonial powers, this dependency and the resulting underdevelopment were often preceded by a period of more equal interactions where the indigenous groups remained self-sufficient (Miller 1993; Morantz 1992; Warburton and Scott 1985). Hall, for example, indicates that the degree of incorporation of “peripheral areas” into world systems forms a continuum from “areas external to the worldeconomy and areas where contact has been slight” to “fullblown, or dependent peripheries” (1986: 391-392). Notably, he places much of North America into the less incorporated end of this spectrum, stating that “North American furs were not vital to European economies, yet the trade produced major social and economic changes among indigenous societies” (Hall 1986: 392; cf. Wolf 1982). Clearly, however, any statement such as that made by Hall is referring to a specific point in the history of a given culture or society. The degree of incorporation or dependency of a society at any point in time is rooted in the specific history of that society and its interactions with other societies. This is not a consistent process, and as such we cannot generalize about the historical trajectory of incorporation or the ultimate development of dependency.

Dependency theory is closely related to world systems theory approaches, and in many ways formed a basis for the development of the latter theory (e.g., Kearney 1995). Dependency theory was originally constructed as a means to understand the ongoing underdevelopment of Third World countries in Latin America (Caporaso 1978; Dietz 1980; Dos Santos 1970; White 1983), but has since been employed in contexts outside of Latin America (Ahiakpor 1985; Anders 1980; Caporaso 1978). Generally, dependency theory explored the history of the relationships between nations and their colonies, or between centres and peripheries, and thus presented a more simplified view of the complex economic relationships described by world systems theory (Kearney 1995: 550). Dos Santos, for example, provides an early description of dependency theory: By dependence we mean a situation in which the economy of certain countries is conditioned by the development and expansion of another economy to which the former is subjected. The relation of interdependence between two or more economies, and between these and world trade, assumes the form of dependence when some countries (the dominant ones) can expand and can be self-sustaining, while other countries (the dependent ones) can do this only as a reflection of that expansion, which can have either a positive or a negative effect on their immediate development (1970: 231). Other early discussions of dependency theory focussed on clarifying the concept and the definitions of the relevant terminology, as the concept of dependence has variable meanings outside of the realm of dependency theory (Caporaso 1978; Duvall 1978). Caporaso, for example, clarifies that “dependence is the pattern of external reliance

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Theoretical and Methodological Approach Russian period” (1976: 200). Early discussions of contact-period economics in North America typically highlighted the immediate dependency of indigenous groups on European traders (Krech 1987; Rich 1960), though these views have been criticised as simply perpetuating a Euro-centric view of the dominance of the European colonial powers and their representatives (Krech 1976; Morantz 1980; Ray 1980). In contrast, more recent studies have highlighted numerous examples of a delayed dependence of aboriginal peoples on the products and interactions of European contact. Among the Labrador Eskimo of Hamilton Inlet, Jordan (1978) has described a pattern wherein the Eskimo were independent during the early centuries of contact, though using considerable amounts of European iron which was reworked into traditional forms, but became increasingly dependent on European goods as the scale of trade increased through the 18th century, and ultimately abandoned many of their traditional economic forms as permanent European settlements appeared through the early 19th century (cf. Krech 1987; Morantz 1992). Fisher suggested a similar pattern for the Northwest Coast: My contention is that the fur trade brought only minimal cultural change to the Indians and that it was change that they could control and adapt to. [European] settlement [beginning in the mid-19th century], on the other hand, was disruptive because it introduced major cultural change so rapidly that the Indians began to lose control of their situation (1992: xxviii; cf. Warburton and Scott 1985). Though a period of non-dependence may have followed contact in many areas, most authors agree that a degree of dependency ultimately developed amongst most, if not all, North American groups. Ray, speaking generally of the land-based fur trade in Eastern Canada, states that: There is no question that over time Aboriginal people increasingly relied on imported subsistence technologies. These eventually displaced most of the traditional ones. Furthermore...Native people increasingly depended on the traders to help them avoid starvation due to cyclical food shortages and chronic ones that resulted from resource depletion (1998: xx). The rate at which dependency developed is also variable, and may have very rapidly resulted from contact in some areas. Among the Micmac, for example, Miller (1976) suggests that trade with fishermen along the coast of eastern Canada forced a shift in economic scheduling and the seasonal round as early as AD 1500, and that, as a result of this focus on trade, the Micmac quickly became dependent on traded foods for winter subsistence well before permanent European settlement in the region (cf. Burley 1981). Similarly, Van Stone (1976) argued that the Ingalik of the Yukon River area in west-central Alaska became rapidly dependent on European commodities obtained from Russian traders at posts of the Russian-American Company, and as such “it is probable that many aboriginal subsistence activities were modified or forgotten during the early

Overall, the varied models of contact-period societal interactions and, even more importantly, the varied economic and cultural impacts that contact initiated among indigenous groups, highlight the fact that no single model of contact-period economic interactions adequately describes all cases. Morantz, for example, in discussing the fur trade amongst the James Bay Cree, stated that: The impact of the fur trade on the Indians and vice versa cannot be simply stated for it depends on which group of James Bay Cree in what period and which aspects of the fur trade are being analysed. It is difficult to separate the influences of the two cultures, since the Indian-European relationship in the fur trade of 1700 to 1870 can only be described as ‘interdependent’ (1980: 54; cf. Morantz 1992). It is not, then, possible to generalize about the responses of North American indigenous groups to European contact, or to generalize about the degree to which or the rate at which these groups became dependent on introduced European commodities (Krech 1987). Rather, the responses and adaptations of a given indigenous group are a result of their unique historical context. 2.2 European Contact on the Northwest Coast The earliest European contact with First Nations peoples in the northeastern Pacific Ocean was initiated by the Russians. Russian interest in the region began in the early 1740s, when the Bering-Chirikov expedition brought hundreds of sea otter furs from the Gulf of Alaska back to Kamtchatka (Farris 1989; Gibson 1988, 1992; Quimby 1948). Early Russian presence on the coast was primarily limited to this northern area, though the Russians did establish themselves as far south as the coast of California in the early 19th century (Farris 1989; Gibson 1969). The Spanish were among the first Europeans to explore along the coasts of British Columbia and southeast Alaska, most notably beginning with the voyage of Juan Pérez in 1774 (Gibson 1988; Wolf 1982). The Spanish did not become heavily involved in the maritime fur trade, however, and thus had relatively limited activities on the coast. Their interest was largely military, and the establishment of occupations at Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island was aimed at protecting against incursions of other European powers on their interests further south (Gibson 1988, 1992). The British, in contrast, had a great interest in the fur trade, sparked by massive returns received by Captain Cook and crew who collected sea otter furs in Nootka Sound in 1778. Cook's crew received a return of roughly £90 on an investment of one shilling (i.e., 1800:1) for the furs they sold in China, and this massive profit encouraged further British interest in the trade when it was publicised in Britain (Gibson 1988: 379; cf. Howay 1932; Quimby 1948; Wolf 1982). The value of furs as an item of trade was not an entirely new concept, of course, as Europe had long been involved in the trade of other furs (Wolf 1982: 158-159). The publication of the

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Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods profits realised by Cook’s crew, however, sparked interest in a previously unknown source of furs, namely North Pacific sea otters, and made known the potential for an enormous gain of wealth from that new source. The British were the first to respond to these possibilities, and they dominated the Northwest Coast trade for approximately the first ten years. By the early 1800s, however, British ships had virtually disappeared from the coast. Overall, the majority of the maritime fur trade was dominated by American vessels, primarily from Boston (Gibson 1988; Gough 1989; Malloy 2000). American dominance of the coastal trade ended in the mid-1830's, when the Hudson's Bay Company, and the Russian-American Company to the north, began more serious trading on the coast. By this time, however, sea otter populations had decreased to the point that a ship based trade was no longer profitable. This is not surprising given the intensity of the short-lived maritime trade, with well over 300 vessels trading on the coast between 1785 and 1825 (Fisher 1992; Gibson 1992; Wolf 1982; Chapter 6). Trade by the larger, land based companies was more feasible as permanent forts allowed the First Nations to collect and trade furs, now largely from terrestrial fur-bearers, throughout the year.

In summary, the realisation of the value of sea otter furs following Cook’s voyage of 1778 sparked an interest amongst European nations in pursuing the fur trade as a profitable economic venture. With the arrival of increasing numbers of European and American traders on the coast, a constant and valuable market was created for First Nations to increase their harvest of otter furs and trade them at what was, from their perspective, a solid profit. This trade made goods from European and American markets, as well as from Chinese and other markets, available to First Nations groups on the Northwest Coast. The maritime traders also amplified traditional trade that had existed on the coast prior to contact, as items that were easily obtained through trade on one part of the coast, such as moose and elk hides from the Columbia River area or dentalium shells from Nootka Sound, were then used elsewhere on the coast as trade items to acquire sea otter furs (Howay 1930, 1932). Furs acquired on the coast by British and American traders were then transported to Chinese ports, where they were sold at considerable profit. This profit was then often converted to Chinese goods, such as teas, which were rare and valuable in the home ports of the traders in Europe and New England.

Of particular interest from the perspective of culture-contact are the variable relations that existed between the various European nations represented on the Northwest Coast and the various indigenous groups with which they interacted. Russian fur traders, who established a permanent presence on the coast rather than trading from ships, essentially enslaved the Aleut peoples, using them as fur hunters (Gibson 1988), and even relocating them as far south as Fort Ross in California (Farris 1989; Gibson 1969). Conversely, they had continuous problems with attempts to subjugate or even trade with the Tlingit. According to Gibson (1978, 1988) and others (Crowell 1997; Wolf 1982), the Russians became largely dependent on First Nations for their survival. Specifically, the small numbers of Russians in North America received food, clothing, and labour from the natives, as well as forming families with them. Russians also became dependent on other Europeans to supply them with trade goods because of poor supply lines from Russia (Farris 1989).

2.3 Holistic Archaeology

Unlike the Russians, the British developed relatively friendly relations with the First Nations, generally trading with them on a relatively equal basis. The British strategy for trade focussed on establishing relationships of mutual respect with the First Nations, rather than subjugating them as per the Russian approach. American traders also had generally amicable relations with the First Nations during the early years of the maritime fur trade. The actions of some traders, however, who mistreated and swindled the First Nations, opened the door to declining relations and outright hostility (Acheson 1985; Brathwaite and Folan 1972; Gibson 1988; Howay 1925, 1929). Generally, the First Nations saw the traders not as individuals but as representing a unified village or people. Thus, retribution for the actions of some could be gained by punishing others (Brathwaite and Folan 1972; Howay 1925, 1929).

The concept of an “holistic archaeology” was largely outlined by Trigger (1989a, 1989b, 1991; cf. McMillan 1999). Trigger argued that, in order to provide culturally specific meaning to the archaeological record, archaeologists must turn to other sources such as historical documents, oral traditions, ethnographic accounts, and historical linguistic studies (1991: 561-562, 1989b). The position of studies of European/hunter-gatherer contact in at least the early historic period of most regions means that such studies are particularly well suited for the utilisation of ethnographic, ethnohistoric, and historic sources as well as archaeological sources of data (Fitzhugh 1985; Friesen 1995; Hester 1989; Rogers 1990; Rogers and Wilson 1993). An holistic approach, then, is closely related to the issue surrounding the often substantial divide between historical and prehistoric archaeology. Some authors have suggested that historical archaeology, with its inherent dependence on

One common theme in the varied approaches to culturecontact studies outlined above involves the recognition by many of the proponents of these approaches of the utility of various lines of evidence in analyses of the contact period. Thus, an holistic approach is presented here not as a distinct method from those previously discussed, but as one means of tying these varied approaches together under a common theme. Certainly, the availability of varied sources of information that are directly relevant to the contact period, including ethnographic and ethnohistoric data, in addition to traditional archaeological data, make such an approach particularly relevant. These various lines of information also facilitate a more detailed consideration of culture-contact, while avoiding some of the problems of earlier studies of culture-contact described above, by providing multiple lines of insight into contact-period interactions and economic practices.

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Theoretical and Methodological Approach Specifically, ethnographic and early historic accounts relevant to a consideration of changing Haida subsistence economy through the early contact and maritime fur trade periods are summarised and discussed in detail (Chapters 4 and 5 respectively). These data provide useful and relevant insights into the questions being addressed in the current study, while also helping to contextualise the late precontact and early contact-period archaeological data.

multiple lines of inquiry, is ideally suited for studies of the effects of European contact on first nations groups (Rubertone 2000). In contrast to this view, or rather to expand upon it, Lightfoot and colleagues argue that “evaluation of the consequences of the European world-system on native peoples requires that both prehistoric and historical archaeology be undertaken, the former to establish the baseline from which to measure changes taking place after European contact” (1993: 163; cf. cf. Lyons and Papadopoulos 2002; Wilson and Rogers 1993). A similar argument is made by Kent, though she problematically defines “traditional culture” as “that which most closely resembles what was reported to have existed during the protohistoric and early historic periods” (1983: 56). Such a definition, which equates ethnographic descriptions of culture groups with longstanding prehistoric cultural patterns, has been widely debated, and ethnographic descriptions have been shown in some cases to represent a result of European influence rather than a reflection of pre-contact culture. Acheson (1998), for example, demonstrated that amongst the Haida a disjunction exists between the pattern of settlement and subsistence that existed just prior to and at the time of initial European contact and the pattern of a seasonal round with aggregations at large, multi-lineage winter villages described in ethnographic accounts more than 100 years later. This suggests that the use of ethnographic data as an analogue for the interpretation of archaeological data should be applied with caution (Ford 1990; Howell 1994; Inglis and Haggarty 1987; Trigger 1980, 1981, 1989b; Wobst 1978).

Archaeological faunal remains provide one of the most readily available and widely analysed sources of data on past human subsistence practices (Casteel 1976c; Grayson 1984; Orchard 2001b, 2003a; Reitz and Wing 1999). Though other methods have been applied to the reconstruction of paleodiet, such as the isotopic analysis of human and dog bones (Cannon et al. 1999; Chisholm and Nelson 1983; Chisholm et al. 1982, 1983; Heaton 1995), the relative ease with which faunal remains can be gathered and analysed, as well as the relatively low costs of such analyses, make them preferable in many circumstances. Additionally, a few studies have admirably demonstrated the potential of faunal analyses to contribute to an understanding of cultural changes in contact situations (Butler 2000, 2004; Fitting 1976; Ford 1990; Friesen 1995; Henshaw 2000). Butler (2000; cf. Butler 2004), for example, examined changing resource use through an analysis of faunal assemblages from eight sites on the Columbia River in Oregon, spanning the late prehistoric and early historic periods. The results of her analysis suggest that overexploitation of primary prey items resulted in a depression in major prey populations and a shift to secondary prey in the roughly 2000 years prior to European contact, followed by a rebound of prey populations and an increased use of primary prey following contact (Butler 2000). Though this analysis does not directly address the relations between Native Americans and Europeans at contact, it provides indirect evidence for the effects of this contact, as Butler suggests that post-contact patterns in resource use reflect declines in aboriginal populations that in turn led to decreased resource pressure and allowed resource populations to recover from previous overexploitation (2000). Fitting's (1976) analysis of faunal assemblages from sites in the Straits of Mackinack in Michigan also demonstrated that some change in subsistence occurred as a result of contact. Though Fitting rejects the hypothesis that introduced European trade goods drastically altered the local subsistence base, significant reductions in the prevalence of both beaver and dog in contact-period assemblages are attributed to resource depression through over-harvesting of fur-bearing animals and ideological changes through introduced dietary taboos, respectively (1976). Ford (1990), in an example from the Northwest Coast, attempted to use zooarchaeological data to address changes in indigenous subsistence practices during the contact period. Though she was able to clearly document variability in vertebrate and invertebrate remains over time, Ford’s (1990) faunal assemblage from the English Camp site on San Juan Island in the southern Gulf of Georgia was too limited to make concrete conclusions about changes during the contact period. With the exception of this and the few case studies outlined above, faunal

A broadly based, holistic approach drawing on ethnographic, ethnohistoric, historic, and oral historic sources has proved particularly valuable in recent regional studies on the Northwest Coast (Acheson 1998; McMillan 1999). McMillan (1999), in his extensive overview of the culture history of the southern Wakashan peoples, employs such an approach admirably, drawing heavily on a variety of sources to detail the history of the Nuu-chah-nulth, Ditidaht, and Makah, from their first occupations of the west coast of Vancouver Island and the Olympic Peninsula to the present day. Acheson (1998) employs a similar, though not identical, approach in his regional study of the Kunghit Haida in southern Haida Gwaii. Specifically, Acheson (1998) argues for the use of a direct historical approach (Steward 1942), but advocates the use of historical documents and oral historical accounts in addition to ethnographic descriptions to provide a larger database for analogy. The current research, as summarised in Chapter 1, is aimed at examining continuity and change in Haida subsistence economy during the maritime fur trade period. Though a major component of this project is a program of small-scale, regional archaeological sampling (Chapter 7), a focus on the late pre-contact and early contact periods makes the use of early historical documents and ethnographic accounts particularly relevant. As such, an holistic approach has been adopted in the current project, drawing on these varied lines of evidence to aid in archaeological interpretations.

9

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods remains have been largely ignored as a source of data on inter-cultural contact, and as such the current project should provide a further test of the utility of this often ignored source of data. The analysis of artifact assemblages can provide an additional source of insight into economic practices, as economic or subsistence related artifacts, such as hunting and fishing gear, can indicate some of the economic activities being practised at a given time in a given location. However, artifact assemblages tend to be quite small in Northwest Coast shell midden sites (Acheson 1998), and faunal remains provide a much more abundant and more easily sampled source of data. As such, archaeological faunal assemblages will form one of the primary sources of data for the current project.

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CHAPTER 3. HAIDA GWAII ENVIRONMENT dominated by two major islands, Graham and Moresby, which are surrounded by numerous smaller islands (see Figure 3.1). Graham Island is a broad, relatively low plain, while Moresby Island is a more rugged, mountainous region dominated by steep coastlines. The origin of these islands is largely tectonic, the result of “the accumulation of successive layers of lava intercalated with the deposition of sediments” over the past 230 million years (Sutherland Brown and Yorath 1989: 4; cf. Barrie et al. 2005; Clague 1989). The long time depth and continuing dynamic nature of the formation and erosion of these landmasses has led to the exposure of a wide variety of geological formations on the current surfaces of Haida Gwaii (e.g., Sutherland Brown and Yorath 1989: Figure 9). The current physical form of Haida Gwaii is largely a result of ongoing tectonic and erosional forces in the region (Sutherland Brown and Yorath 1989: 18). In addition, “many prominent landforms, including fjords, U-shaped valleys, and cirques, are products of several glaciations and are Pleistocene in age; others such as floodplains, river terraces, fans, cones, and elevated wave-cut scarps formed during postglacial time” (Clague 1989: 65; cf. Barrie et al. 2005).

Any consideration of the subsistence and economic activities, not to mention other aspects of life, of the Haida, or any other group of people, is intrinsically tied to a consideration and understanding of the environment in which that group of people resides. The insularity of Haida Gwaii (Figure 3.1), for example, is very important to the Haida adaptation. Not surprisingly, the Haida adaptation is predominantly marine with only limited terrestrial input, though this pattern varies even within the archipelago. The isolated and insular nature of the Haida homeland is also interesting from a cultural and political perspective, as, unlike the case for other aboriginal populations on the Northwest Coast, the Haida claim to ancestry in Haida Gwaii is virtually unchallenged (Bohn 2005). This chapter begins with a brief overview of the current environmental setting of Haida Gwaii, before turning to a consideration of prehistoric and historicperiod changes to the local environment. 3.1 Modern Geography and Environmental Setting Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia) is an archipelago of more than 150 islands located off the coast of northern British Columbia. The archipelago is

Figure 3.1. Location of Haida Gwaii on the Northwest Coast and detail of the Haida Gwaii archipelago.

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The ongoing uplift of the western edge of Haida Gwaii has resulted in the physiographic differences between the northern, Graham Island, region in contrast to the southern, Moresby Island, region of the archipelago, and has also contributed to the sea-level history for the region as discussed below. In terms of current physiography, three definable natural units exist within Haida Gwaii. These include (Figure 3.2) the Queen Charlotte Ranges, the Skidegate Plateau, and the Queen Charlotte Lowlands (Sutherland Brown and Yorath 1989). Considering Haida Gwaii as a whole, Graham Island and the northern half of the archipelago are dominated by the Skidegate Plateau in the west and by the Queen Charlotte Lowlands in the east, giving this region its character as a broad, relatively low elevation plain. In contrast, Moresby Island and the southern half of the archipelago are dominated by the steep, rugged coastlines of the high elevation Queen Charlotte Ranges. The Skidegate Plateau, essentially a transitional zone between the higher elevations of the Queen Charlotte Ranges to the southwest and the low plain of the Queen Charlotte Lowlands to the northeast, is “differentiated from the Ranges by reduced summit heights and the existence of a recognizable upland” (Sutherland Brown and Yorath 1989: 22). The variable physiography evident between the northern and southern halves of Haida Gwaii also influences the faunal and floral regimes of these areas as

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods discussed below, and is reflected in variable archaeological faunal assemblages from the two regions (Orchard 2005b; Orchard and Clark 2006). Climate Following the British Columbia Ministry of Forests (2006) Biogeoclimatic Ecosystem Classification system, Haida Gwaii contains three biogeoclimatic zones. The vast majority of the islands fall within the Coastal Western Hemlock Zone, which also encompasses most of coastal British Columbia. This zone is further subdivided into the “very wet hypermaritime subzone” along the west coast of Haida Gwaii, and the “wet hypermaritime subzone” along the east coast (Burles et al. 2004). Higher areas in the Queen Charlotte Ranges and the Skidegate Plateau also contain pockets of Alpine Tundra and Mountain Hemlock Zones (British Columbia Ministry of Forests 2006), though these zones are very limited in Haida Gwaii. Certainly, the entirety of the coastal zone that was the primary region of occupation and use for the Haida falls within the Coastal Western Hemlock Zone. Generally this zone is characterised by moderate climates, with little temperature variation from winter to summer, by an abundance of rainfall, and persistent and often very strong winds, particularly along the exposed outer coast (British Columbia Ministry of Forests 1999). On Anthony Island at the southern end of Haida Gwaii, for example, Hebda et al. (2005: 60) report a mean daily temperature of 8.7°C, with January and July means of 4.6°C and 13.0°C respectively (cf. Burles et al. 2004). Rainfall is variable across the islands, with annual rainfall exceeding 4,000 mm on the west coast and 7,000 mm at higher elevations, and with the driest parts of the east coast recording average annual precipitation of 1,150 mm (Burles et al. 2004: 5). Winds are persistent, with average annual wind speeds at Cape St. James roughly 32 kilometres per hour (Hebda et al. 2005: 61).

Figure 3.2. Modern physiography of Haida Gwaii (after Sutherland Brown and Yorath 1989).

Fauna Myotis keenii, M. californicus, M. lucifugus), one is a shrew with two races present (Sorex monticolus), and one is a species of small mouse (Peromyscus keeni), again with two subspecies present (Burles et al. 2004; cf. Cowan 1989). The remaining, medium- to large-sized terrestrial mammals are limited to the black bear (Ursus americanus), marten (Martes americana), ermine or short-tailed weasel (Mustella erminea), river otter (Lontra canadensis), and caribou (Rangifer tarandus), the latter of which was locally extinct by the early 1900s (Cowan 1989; Foster 1965). Since European contact, the terrestrial mammalian fauna of Haida Gwaii has expanded through the introduction of at least eight nonnative taxa, including black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus), wapiti or elk (Cervus elaphus), red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), American beaver (Castor canadensis), European rats (Rattus spp.), muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), and racoon (Procyon lotor) (Burles et al. 2004; Carl and Guiguet 1958; Cowan 1989). Several of the introduced taxa have had significant impacts on the local environment, as discussed below.

As is typical of insular environments, Haida Gwaii is characterised by a limited or “impoverished” fauna (Burles et al. 2004; Foster 1965; Grzybowski and Slocombe 1988), at least in terms of its terrestrial habitats. Furthermore, the isolated nature of the Haida Gwaii fauna has led to the evolution of endemic subspecies of several taxa that are in many cases quite distinct from the related species on the adjacent mainland and other islands (Burles et al. 2004; Foster 1965; Reimchen and Byun 2005). The presence of these numerous endemic species or subspecies may relate to the presence of glacial refugia on or near Haida Gwaii during the last glaciation, as discussed below. The terrestrial mammalian fauna of Haida Gwaii are particularly limited. Burles and colleagues (2004) identify 11 species of indigenous land mammal, including the northern river otter, which could be considered a marine mammal to some degree (cf. Cowan 1989; Foster 1965). This number is also somewhat misleading in that four of the species are small bats (Lasionycteris noctivagans, 12

Haida Gwaii Environment (Phalacrocorax pelagicus), and the glaucous-winged gull (Larus glaucescens) (Cowan 1989; Harfenist et al. 2002). In addition to these indigenous, locally breeding species, numerous other species of bird have been recorded in Haida Gwaii at various times of the year. Hamel (1989), for example, indicates that at least 151 bird species have been recorded as being present in the Delkatla Wildlife Sanctuary, in Masset on northern Graham Island, since the late 1800s. Hamel’s own observations in the sanctuary between 1982 and 1985 recorded 109 species, 33 of which have been confirmed as breeding in the area (Hamel 1989). Dominant taxa in the inland, brackish estuary of the Delkatla Wildlife Sanctuary are waterfowl, including ducks, swans, and geese, and shorebirds (Hamel 1989).

In contrast to the somewhat limited terrestrial mammalian fauna, the marine mammals of the Haida Gwaii region are more diverse and more abundant. Heise and colleagues (2003) provide data on 26 species of marine mammals that have been recorded in the waters bordering Haida Gwaii. This includes 20 species of whales, dolphins and porpoises, five species of seals and sea lions, and the sea otter, the last of which has been essentially locally extinct since the mid 19th century (see section 3.3 below). Relatively common in Haida Gwaii waters in modern times are the Pacific white-sided dolphin (Lagenorhynchus obliquidens), Dall’s porpoise (Phocoenoides dalli), harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena), humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae), Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus), and harbour seal (Phoca vitulina) (Heise et al. 2003). Other species, such as the grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus) and the northern fur seal (Callorhinus ursinus), are seasonally present in the region during migrations (Heise et al. 2003). The once-common sea otter (Enhydra lutris), extirpated from Haida Gwaii during the maritime fur trade, may ultimately repopulate the islands. Reintroduced populations have become well established north of Haida Gwaii in southeast Alaska, and south of Haida Gwaii on northwestern Vancouver Island and in the Goose Islands (Heise et al. 2003; cf. Bigg and MacAskie 1978; Jameson et al. 1982). In addition, Heise and colleagues (2003) report eight confirmed sightings of sea otters in Haida Gwaii over the last 30 years, likely all representing free-ranging males (cf. Edie 1973; Taylor and Gough 1977).

Northcote et al. (1989) indicate that more than 300 species of fish are found in the marine waters surrounding Haida Gwaii, in contrast to only 14 species of freshwater fishes, which include 8 anadromous salmonids (cf. Ireland 1989). Much of the available information on abundances of fish taxa in waters surrounding Haida Gwaii are derived from commercial records, and thus this information is biased towards commercially relevant taxa. Nevertheless, such data provide some insight into which taxa are most abundant and thus would have been most easily available to the Haida. Particularly abundant and important marine taxa include the Pacific sand lance (Ammodytes hexapterus), Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi), rock sole (Lepidopsetta bilineata), English sole (Parophrys vetulus), butter sole (Iopsetta isolepis), Pacific cod (Gadus macrocephalus), rockfish (Sebastes spp.), halibut (Hippoglossus stenolepis), and sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) (Northcote et al. 1989). The small number of riverine taxa is dominated by salmonids, of which there are 8 species present on Haida Gwaii (Northcote et al. 1989). Despite the low diversity of freshwater taxa, however, many of these species are very abundant, at least seasonally. Chum (Oncorhynchus keta) and coho salmon (O. kisutch) along with Dolly Varden char (Salvelinus malma) are the most generally abundant of the salmonids throughout Haida Gwaii (Northcote et al. 1989). Other taxa are more limited in distribution, with pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) and rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri) occurring most commonly in the regions of the Queen Charlotte Ranges and the Skidegate Plateau, while “sockeye salmon [Oncorhynchus nerka] occur consistently only in 11 stream systems and chinook [O. tshawytscha] only in one” (Northcote et al. 1989: 162).

Bird species are moderately diverse and abundant in Haida Gwaii. Cowan identifies 71 species that are believed to nest on Haida Gwaii, an indigenous avifauna that is “only 58% of that of equivalent habitats on the adjacent mainland” in terms of numbers of species (Cowan 1989: 175). Of these species, 22 are relatively abundant taxa that can be classified as sea or shore birds, while 42 can be classified as a “general grouping of land birds nesting and foraging primarily away from the sea or shore” (Cowan 1989: 176). The prevalence of marine birds in the region is highlighted by Harfenist et al. (2002), who indicate that roughly 1.5 million marine birds breed on Haida Gwaii, including 13 species of seabirds, 8 species of marine waterfowl, 7 species of shorebirds, and 2 marine raptors. Particularly abundant are seabirds of the family Alcidae that breed and nest on small islands along the coasts of Haida Gwaii (Harfenist et al. 2002). The most abundant alcids are the ancient murrelet (Synthliboramphus antiquus) and Cassin’s auklet (Ptychoramphus aleuticus), both represented by more than 200,000 breeding pairs in the region (Harfenist et al. 2002). Other alcids, present in smaller numbers, include the rhinoceros auklet (Cerorhinca monocerata), tufted puffin (Fratercula cirrhata), horned puffin (F. corniculata), pigeon guillemot (Cepphus columba), common murre (Uria aalge), and marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus) (Cowan 1989; Harfenist et al. 2002). Other common seabirds in the region include the fork-tailed storm-petrel (Oceanodroma furcata), Leach’s storm-petrel (O. leucorhoa), pelagic cormorant

Again reflecting the high productivity of the marine environment, Sloan and colleagues (2001) indicate that at least 2,503 invertebrate species are present in the waters surrounding Haida Gwaii. Marine invertebrate abundance is particularly high in nearshore environments, which could have been easily exploited by the indigenous Haida. Particularly common and economically important taxa in various regions of Haida Gwaii, again based largely on modern commercial and recreational fisheries, include Dungeness crabs (Cancer magister), prawns (Pandalus platyceros), weathervane scallops 13

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods (Patinopecten caurinus), razor clams (Siliqua patula), geoduck clams (Panope abrupta), red sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus franciscanus), horse clams (Tresus spp.), butter clams (Saxidomus gigantea), littleneck clams (Protothaca staminea), and Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) (Sloan et al. 2001). Other important taxa include the California mussel (Mytilus californianus), which are particularly common along the exposed, rocky shores of southern Haida Gwaii, and the once-common Northern abalone (Haliotis kamtschatkana), whose populations have likely fluctuated greatly through the post-contact period and which are now closed to harvesting because of population crashes from overutilization (see section 3.3 below).

ecosystems that shelter many species of juvenile and adult fishes and invertebrates” (2000: v). Kelp taxa are particularly widespread and important in nearshore environments of Haida Gwaii, though modern abundances and distributions of kelp are likely influenced by the presence of large populations of herbivorous sea urchins whose populations increased dramatically with the extirpation of sea otters (see section 3.3; Sloan and Bartier 2000). 3.2 Pre-European Geographical and Environmental History As indicated above, an understanding of the contemporary environment of Haida Gwaii provides a context in which modern, or ethnographic, economic adaptations of the Haida can be understood. Similarly, an understanding of the environmental history of Haida Gwaii provides a context for understanding the long-term development of those economic patterns and the changes that occurred in the Haida economy over time. As such, this section provides a brief overview of the post-glacial history of the geography and environment of Haida Gwaii. In addition to providing an environmental context for the current project’s examination of changing Haida economy, aspects of the environmental history, such as the history of sea-level change discussed below, have more direct implications for the dating of site occupations.

Flora Typical of the Coastal Western Hemlock Zone elsewhere on the Northwest Coast, the forests of Haida Gwaii are dominated by western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla), western red-cedar (Thuja plicata), and Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis), with forests on the more exposed, western shores of the islands also containing abundant yellow-cedar (Chamaecyparis nootkatensis) and shore pine (Pinus contorta) (Banner et al. 1989; Foster 1965). The Mountain Hemlock Zone, located at moderate elevations in the subalpine, is dominated by mountain hemlock (Tsuga mertensiana), yellow-cedar, and western hemlock, in addition to “dwarf evergreen scrub, herb meadows, and blanket bogs” (Banner et al. 1989: 263). The limited alpine areas, found at the highest elevations, contain herb meadows, dwarf scrub, and rocky steeplands (Banner et al. 1989). Within these broad, general climatic zones, numerous sub-zones or ecosystems can be identified, containing a diversity of other floral taxa (Banner et al. 1989). Foster (1965) indicates that under varying conditions undergrowth is comprised of varying quantities of such species as ericaceous plants (Vaccinium spp.; Menziesia ferruginea), devil’s club (Oplopanax horridus), salmonberry (Rubus parviflorus), blue currant (Ribes laxiflorum), red alder (Alnus rubra), willow (Salix scoulerians), and western crab apple (Malus fusca). There was considerable local variability and, though some of this variability was the result of variable micro-climates, Hebda et al. (2005) have also demonstrated that indigenous Haida populations played a major role in structuring local environments, particularly around major village sites. Additionally, the flora of Haida Gwaii is interesting in that, like the fauna, numerous endemic taxa are represented (Schofield 1989; Taylor 1989). This provides further evidence of the possible presence of glacial refugia on the islands as discussed below.

Biogeographic History Unlike much of the mainland coast of British Columbia, Haida Gwaii was not covered by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet that covered much of western Canada during the last glaciation. Rather, Haida Gwaii “supported independent valley and piedmont glaciers and mountain ice caps” (Clague 1989: 65; cf. Barrie et al. 2005). Furthermore, the islands were not as extensively glaciated as the mainland, and may have included ice-free areas (Barrie et al. 2005; Clague 1989). These ice free areas, either on Haida Gwaii or perhaps more likely on the adjacent subaerial plain of the then-dry Hecate Strait (Barrie et al. 2005; Reimchen and Byun 2005), formed glacial refugia that supported populations of fauna and flora through at least portions of the Late Wisconsin glacial period (Fladmark 2001; Foster 1989; Heusser 1989; Lindsey 1989). The presence of such refugia is strongly supported by the presence of numerous endemic floral and faunal taxa on Haida Gwaii (Byun et al. 1999; Cowan 1989; Foster 1965; Kavanaugh 1989; Reimchen and Byun 2005; Schofield 1989; Taylor 1989), though other taxa found in similar contexts elsewhere on the outer coast suggest a series of glacial refugia (Ogilvie 1989).

In addition to the rich terrestrial flora, the marine environments surrounding Haida Gwaii support at least 348 seaweed species, 4 seagrass species, and 88 marine lichen species (Sloan and Bartier 2000). Many of these taxa are of direct contemporary and traditional economic importance, while other marine floral taxa provide important ecosystems for vertebrate and invertebrate taxa. Sloan and Bartier, for example, state that “kelp (large seaweed) forests and seagrass meadows comprise

Wigen (2005) provides a good overview of the vertebrate fauna of Haida Gwaii through a synthesis of archaeological and paleontological data. Pre-glacial and glacial-aged samples from Haida Gwaii are very limited, though recent finds of late Pleistocene paleontological deposits from cave sites in Haida Gwaii are particularly 14

Haida Gwaii Environment 1997; cf. Fedje and Mathewes 2005a). Cedar forests became well established in Haida Gwaii by 3,000 BP (Fedje and Mathewes 2005a). Samples from Anthony Island at the southern end of Haida Gwaii, record a sharp increase in western hemlock following 6,900 BP, and likely represent the first arrival and spread of this species on Anthony Island (Hebda et al. 2005). Of particular interest from an anthropological perspective, Hebda and colleagues (2005) also record a sharp rise in pine abundance between 1,100 BP and 500 BP, with concurrent sharp declines in both spruce and hemlock. This floral shift does not correspond with any demonstrated climatic change, and is more likely the result of “progressive clearing on the island associated with colonization by people” (Hebda et al. 2005). The earliest dates of human occupation on the island (Acheson 1985) correspond well with the onset of this pine-dominated period.

interesting (Ramsey et al. 2004). These samples include specimens of brown bear and blacktail deer, both taxa which have not been recorded from the islands during any period of the Holocene (Ramsey et al. 2004; Wigen 2005). In early post-glacial times, archaeological samples suggest a local fauna that is very similar to that known from modern times. The site of Kilgii Gwaay, at the southern end of Haida Gwaii, contains a relatively extensive vertebrate faunal assemblage, dating to 9,400 BP, that is broadly similar to those found in late Holocene sites in the region (Fedje et al. 2001, 2005c; Wigen 2005). The most noticeable difference between this and later assemblages involves the relatively large numbers of black bear remains in the Kilgii Gwaii assemblage (Fedje et al. 2001, 2005c), possibly pointing to greater bear populations at that time or to increased focus on bear hunting by the site occupants (McLaren et al. 2005). More recent, mid-Holocene archaeological deposits from Graham Island also show largely modern vertebrate assemblages (Christensen and Stafford 2005; Wigen 2005; Wigen and Christensen 2001). Interestingly, caribou remains from these assemblages, which date between 6,000 BP and 1,500 BP, are all comparable to the size of modern caribou, and are not morphologically similar to the dwarf Dawson caribou that was apparently present on northern Haida Gwaii at contact (Wigen 2005). Thus, Wigen (2005) suggests that the dwarfing of Haida Gwaii caribou occurred after 1,500 BP, an hypothesis that is also supported by genetic data (Byun et al. 2002). Generally, it appears that a fauna very similar to that recorded in modern times was present in Haida Gwaii by roughly 10,000 BP (Wigen 2005). This mirrors more general patterns evident for the Northwest Coast as a whole, and likely reflects the relative stabilization of the environment after roughly 10,000 BP in comparison to the preceding period of deglaciation and rapidly changing sea levels (Hebda and Frederick 1990).

Sea-Level Change Sea levels in Haida Gwaii have fluctuated throughout the late Pleistocene and the Holocene as a combined result of tectonic, eustatic and isostatic factors (Clague 1989; Fedje et al. 2005a; Hetherington et al. 2004; Josenhans et al. 1995, 1997). Tectonic activity, as outlined above, has resulted in the continual uplift of the islands, particularly along the south-western edge, causing the land mass of Haida Gwaii to rise in relation to sea levels. Eustasy involves the transfer of water between oceans and glaciers (Clague 1989). During colder periods of glaciation, considerable quantities of water are transferred to the land in the form of snow which is compacted into glacial ice, resulting in a global lowering of sea levels. Additionally, the weight of continental glaciers pressing down on crustal plates results in isostatic changes. Specifically, glacial loading and depression on the centre of the continental plate results in a forebulge effect which raises the edge of the continental plate, including Haida Gwaii (Barrie et al. 2005; Fedje et al. 2005a; Hetherington et al. 2004; Josenhans et al. 1995, 1997). The combination of these eustatic and isostatic changes during the last glaciation meant that Haida Gwaii was raised considerably relative to local sea levels, with sea level at 10,000 BP more than 100 metres lower than current levels (see Figure 3.3).

The paleobotanical history of Haida Gwaii is discussed in detail by Mathewes (1989) and Lacourse and Mathewes (2005). By 15,000 BP, records from northern Haida Gwaii point to a vegetation of successional herbaceous plants, grasses, sedges, and mosses (Lacourse and Mathewes 2005). More numerous evidence from the 13,500 BP to 12,500 BP period indicate that tundra-like, “herb-dominated plant communities with dwarf willow and crowberry shrubs were widespread along the Pacific coast before 12,500 BP” (Lacourse and Mathewes 2005: 51). The period following 12,500 BP was characterised by the rapid expansion of coniferous forests. Lodgepole pine was the first species to colonize the coast, with mountain hemlock appearing by 12,000 BP, and spruce appearing and rising to dominance following 11,200 BP (Lacourse and Mathewes 2005; cf. Hebda et al. 2005; Lacourse et al. 2003). Though spruce remained the dominant taxon in the coniferous forests of Haida Gwaii throughout most of the Holocene, some local variability and minor changes have been recorded. Evidence for a shift in climate from a warmer, drier period prior to ca. 6,000 BP to a cooler, wetter period similar to current climate, corresponds to a shift to lower tree line levels in the second half of the Holocene (Pellatt and Mathewes

Considerable research in recent years has been aimed at reconstructing the sea-level history for Haida Gwaii and for elsewhere on the northern coast of British Columbia (Fedje et al. 2004, 2005a; Fladmark 2001). The sea-level curve for southern Haida Gwaii, the region of focus for the current project, has been particularly well established, largely through the efforts of Daryl Fedje (1993) and colleagues (Fedje et al. 2005a, 2005b; Josenhans et al. 1995, 1997). This work has revealed a constantly dynamic history of sea level change throughout the late Pleistocene and the Holocene (Figure 3.3). To summarise briefly (see Fedje et al. 2005a), sea levels during the peak of the last glaciation were 140 metres or more lower than modern sea levels. As climate warmed, eustatic sea level rise from the melting of glaciers combined with isostatic 15

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods 2005). Though this is a fairly coarse means of constraining site dates, it does provide a rough indication of possible periods of site occupation, and such an approach has been usefully applied elsewhere (Mackie 2003). 3.3 Changes to the Haida Gwaii Environment since European Contact A number of direct and indirect impacts of European contact have resulted in a variety of changes to the ecology of Haida Gwaii. According to Foster, for example, “the advent of the alien European culture caused a precipitous decline of many species, particularly sea otters, whales and the Haida themselves” (1989: 281). Furthermore, resource extraction activities and species introductions since contact have heavily affected the marine and terrestrial ecology of Haida Gwaii (Grzybowski and Slocombe 1988). The current ecology and environment of Haida Gwaii is largely a result of these historic-period environmental changes, and thus it provides an interesting case for the archaeological study of long-term economic and ecological trends. Figure 3.3. Reconstructed sea-level curve for southern Haida Gwaii (after Fedje and Josenhans 2000).

Sea Otter Extirpation The maritime fur trade on the Northwest Coast, while initially bringing considerable wealth to the region, was short-lived, lasting from roughly 1780 to 1830. In the Aleutian Islands and southeastern Alaska, intensive Russian exploitation of sea otters began as early as 1741 (Foster 1989). Increased intensity of sea otter hunting during this period had a large impact on otter populations, as sea otter numbers dwindled through the early decades of the 19th Century and sea otters were locally extinct along most of coastal British Columbia by the 1830s (Banfield 1974; Estes et al. 1978; Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2002; Hanson and Kusmer 2001). The precontact sea otter population of the Northwest Coast and the total numbers of skins collected during the maritime fur trade period are unclear, as no comprehensive records were kept (Kenyon 1969). Pre-contact population estimates of sea otters for the region along the west coast of North America and throughout the Aleutian Islands range from 100,000 to 300,000 individuals (Ainsworth et al. 2002; Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2002; Kenyon 1969; Vasconcellos and Pitcher 2002). As Hecate Strait, an area roughly comparable to the maritime territory of the Haida, “covers approximately 1/20th of sea otter coastal range” (Vasconcellos and Pitcher 2002: 80), and assuming an even density of otters across that range, Haida territory likely held 5,000 to 15,000 sea otters prior to contact. Total numbers of furs harvested are even more uncertain, and are based primarily on the very uneven documentation by the fur traders themselves (see Chapter 5). More than 350,000 furs are recorded as being taken by Russian fur hunters from Alaskan waters prior to 1911 (Kenyon 1969), while Lensink (1960) estimates that the true number from Alaskan waters alone was greater than 900,000. Given the patchy numbers available from ethnohistoric accounts and the numbers of ships present on the remainder of the Northwest Coast throughout the

rebound from the decreased glacial load on the continental landmass resulted in a period of rapidly rising sea levels from 10,000 BP to roughly 8,900 BP. Rising sea levels were comparable to modern levels for a brief period surrounding 9,400 BP, but continued rising to a maximum height of roughly 15 to 16 metres above modern sea level. Sea levels remained relatively static at 15 metres until roughly 5,000 BP, after which they gradual fell to modern levels over the following 5,000 years. This pattern of sea level change is relatively localized, and other regions of the northern British Columbia coast show dramatically different sea-level histories based on their locations relative to continental glaciers and their unique tectonic histories (Fedje et al. 2005a). The sea-level histories for Haida Gwaii and other regions of the Northwest Coast have significant implications for the locations and visibility of archaeological sites (Fedje et al. 2004, 2005a, 2005b; Fladmark 2001). Following the curve for southern Haida Gwaii (Figure 3.3), for example, sites located at, or within a metre or two of the current shoreline must date either to a short period surrounding 9,400 BP (Fedje et al. 2001, 2005c), or to the past 2,000 years (Mackie and Sumpter 2005). Sites that are older than 9,400 BP and were located on contemporary shorelines are now submerged (Fedje and Josenhans 2000; Fedje et al. 2005a, 2005b), while sites that date between 9,400 BP and 2,000 BP are now stranded on elevated locations behind modern shorelines (Christensen and Stafford 2005; Fedje et al. 2005b, 2005d). All village sites studied in this project are located on modern shorelines, and thus have a maximum age of approximately 2,000 BP (e.g., Mackie and Sumpter 16

Haida Gwaii Environment major period of the maritime fur trade (Chapter 5), a broad estimate of 400,000 to 700,000 furs seems justified for the non-Russian take of sea otters. The total number of sea otter furs taken from the waters of coastal North America during the maritime fur trade is then in the range of 750,000 to 1,600,000. Interestingly, Kenyon (1969) suggests, based on his pre-contact population estimates of 100,000 to 150,000 sea otters for the whole of the Northwest Coast and an annual growth rate of 2.5 percent, that 425,000 to 637,500 otters could have been harvested during the 170 years from 1740 to 1910 had less intensive harvesting occurred. In reality, a heavy, early focus on obtaining as many furs as possible resulted in relatively rapid decreases in sea otter populations in many areas, which ultimately resulted in the extirpation of many local populations and decreased the total numbers of furs that could have been harvested through more sustainable, long-term practices (Kenyon 1969). In total, as much as 99% of the pre-contact population was wiped out by fur trading (Kenyon 1969; Larson et al. 2002), with modern, remnant populations showing considerably less genetic variation than that of the precontact population (Larson et al. 2002).

Figure 3.4. Red sea urchin barren, Ellen Island, Gwaii Haanas, July 2004.

today in the widespread presence of “urchin barrens”, regions largely devoid of marine plants because of the predatory actions of sea urchins, in Gwaii Haanas (Sloan and Bartier 2000; Sloan et al. 2001; see Figure 3.4). In addition to reducing predation pressure on sea urchins, the reduction in sea otter populations may have affected other species, and not necessarily in ways that are easy to predict. Sloan et al., for example, indicate that “northern abalone may have become more available for gathering throughout Haida Gwaii because of reduced sea otter populations” (2001: 30; Sloan 2004; cf. Hines and Pearse 1982). In contrast, Sloan and colleagues also note that northern abalone is a species associated with kelp forests (Sloan et al. 2001: 104) and, therefore, while the extirpation of sea otters removed a major abalone predator (Cooper et al. 1977; Hines and Pearse 1982; Lowry and Pearse 1973), it also likely led to a reduction in abalone habitat.

The rapid decline and, ultimately, complete extirpation of sea otter populations from the Queen Charlottes and elsewhere along the Northwest Coast, had dramatic impacts on local ecosystems. The important role of sea otters in structuring local ecosystems has led to their classification as a “keystone species”1 (Power et al. 1996; also see Estes and Palmisano 1974; Estes et al. 1978, 1998; Simenstad et al. 1978; Watt et al. 2000), though this role for sea otters has been debated by others (Booth 1988). Specifically, sea otter predation limits the populations of benthic invertebrates, particularly sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus spp.), which in turn enables the extensive growth of kelp forests (Breen et al. 1982; Duggins 1981; Estes and Palmisano 1974; Estes et al. 1978; Pace 1981; Simenstad et al. 1978; Watt et al. 2000). More broadly, kelp forests provide, either directly or indirectly, environments and food resources for a wide range of species, including harbour seals, bald eagles, greenling, rockfish, and other kelp-dependent fish, among others (Bodkin 1988; Carr 1989; Duggins et al. 1989, 1990; Estes and Palmisano 1974; Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2002; Simenstad et al. 1978). Thus, the extirpation of sea otters from the Queen Charlottes in the early 19th Century likely allowed the spread of sea urchins, which in turn would have limited the growth of kelp forests and their associated ecosystems (Sloan and Bartier 2000; Sloan et al. 2001). Recent findings indicating that large red sea urchins may be more than 100 years in age (Ebert and Southon 2003) suggests that the current commercial fishery for these large urchins in coastal B.C. may be based on populations that are a direct result of this reduction in predation pressure from sea otters. Direct evidence of this ecosystem change is seen

In terms of the current research, then, this raises the question “What effect did an increased hunting of sea otters, and the ultimate extirpation of this taxon from Haida waters, have on the Haida subsistence economy?” Importantly, the onset of the fur trade did not initiate a new form of hunting. Sea otters were certainly harvested, to a lesser degree, in pre-contact times, and otter remains form a persistent component of faunal assemblages from Haida Gwaii throughout the late Holocene (Acheson 1998; Wigen 1990; see Chapters 6 and 7). Sloan and colleagues state that “the sea otter population of Haida Gwaii was likely intact, although hunted and perhaps locally depleted around the larger habitation sites, prior to the vigorous sea otter fur trade” (2001:29; cf. Simenstad et al. 1978; Sloan 2004). That sea otter hunting increased during the early contact period is well demonstrated by the decline and extirpation of this species. The extent of the increase, the amount of time dedicated to otter hunting during the maritime fur trade, and the effect this had on the scheduling of other subsistence activities is unclear. Equally unclear are the effects on Haida subsistence of the ecological changes to the nearshore

1 A keystone species, a concept introduced by Paine (1966, 1969), can be defined as a species “whose impact on its community or ecosystem is large, and disproportionately large relative to its abundance” (Power et al. 1996: 609).

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Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Since the period of initial contact, a number of species have been inadvertently or intentionally introduced to the islands (Carl and Guiguet 1958; Cowan 1989; Foster 1989). European rats (Rattus rattus and Rattus norvegicus) and house mice (Mus musculus) were likely introduced to Haida Gwaii with the arrival of the first European ships in the late 18th century (Foster 1989). Since their first introduction, rats have established significant populations on many of the islands of the archipelago. Predation by these rats has had significant impacts on the once vast breeding colonies of seabirds in the region (Bertram and Nagorsen 1995; Taylor et al. 2000). Black-tailed deer (Odocoileus hemionus) were first introduced to Graham Island in the period from 1900 to 1916 to provide a source of food, and have since spread to virtually all parts of Haida Gwaii (Cowan 1989). Deer populations have exploded throughout the archipelago, as there are virtually no natural predators for deer in the islands (Foster 1989). Deer over-browsing has drastically changed the ecology of the forest understory and has eliminated or reduced some forage species in many areas (Banner et al. 1989; Foster 1989; Grzybowski and Slocombe 1988; Martin and Baltzinger 2002; Stockton et al. 2001; Vila et al. 2003; Vourc’h et al. 2001). More recently, racoons (Procyon lotor), beavers (Castor canadensis), and red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), all captured near Campbell River on Vancouver Island, were released on Graham Island in the mid 1940s. These species were intended to provide a source of furs (racoons and beavers) or to aid in the collection of conifer seeds (red squirrels), and have all become relatively abundant and have spread throughout much of Haida Gwaii (Cowan 1989; Banner et al. 1989). Beaver have become well established throughout the Queen Charlotte Lowlands of Graham Island, and have drowned some forest land in the region (Banner et al. 1989). Raccoons, mirroring issues arising from introduced rats, prey heavily on ground-nesting seabirds that breed on the islands (Hartman and Eastman 1999). Introduced squirrels, in combination with habitat changes caused by deer browsing, have also been implicated in nest predation of forest birds (Martin and Joron 2003).

environment surrounding Haida Gwaii that would have occurred with the decline and extirpation of sea otters. Studies elsewhere on the Pacific coast have also examined these ecological relationships in prehistoric economies. Braje et al. (2006), for example, have examined ecological trends in shell midden deposits on the Northern Channel Islands. In these studies, findings suggest that prehistoric hunting of sea otters may have occasionally led to locally depressed populations of sea otters, which in turn led to increased populations of other economically important taxa such as sea urchins and abalone. Sea urchin-dominated strata in some late Holocene middens on Santa Rosa and San Miguel Islands, for example, are interpreted as “possible evidence that Native hunting and fishing helped create localized and short-lived urchin barrens” (Braje et al. 2006: 17). Zooarchaeological studies in the Aleutian Islands have found similar results, with sites producing few to no sea otter remains and correspondingly large quantities of sea urchin remains, often representing very large individuals (Corbett et al. 2005; Simenstad et al. 1978). This again likely represents the depletion of otter populations in a ca. 3-4 kilometre radius zone around Aleut village sites (Corbett et al. 2005; Simenstad et al. 1978). These archaeological data contribute to recent discussions and examinations of “resource depression” as represented in faunal assemblages across the Northwest Coast and elsewhere (Butler and Campbell 2004; Butler 2000, 2001; Lyman 2003). What is missing from these studies, however, is a measure of the amount of time that occurs between sea otter extirpation and the rise of alternate economies. Grzybowski and Slocombe, based on ethnographic and historic observations, have indicated that, following the extirpation of sea otters, “abalone and sea urchin subsequently became a favorite food of the Haida” (1988: 472; cf. Sloan 2003, 2004). It is clear, then, that ecological changes did occur with the loss of sea otters. The extent to which these changes had immediate effects on the Haida subsistence economy, however, would have depended on the subsistence importance placed on the numerous taxa that would have been ecologically affected by the loss of sea otters, and on the rate with which changes in the availability of these taxa would have occurred.

Perhaps less obviously, introduced plant and invertebrate species have also restructured aspects of the Haida Gwaii environment. The introduction of European grassy weeds, for example, led to a change in local ecology, and “precontact settlement[s] likely looked very different from times recently past, [with pre-contact settlements] covered in shrub thickets rather than a grassy sward” (Hebda et al. 2005: 75-76). In terms of invertebrates, Sloan et al. (2001) record 16 alien marine taxa that have been identified in Haida Gwaii waters.

Other Impacts During and following the initial fur-trade period, a variety of other factors also resulted in changes to the Gwaii Haanas ecosystem. Changes are known to have resulted, for example, from the introduction of non-indigenous species and from commercial harvesting of various resources. A brief discussion of these various impacts is useful for understanding the current state of the Haida Gwaii environment and, more importantly, for understanding the nature of the Haida Gwaii environment during the late pre-contact and contact periods.

Other relatively recent impacts include the overharvesting of abalone and large-scale logging operations. Commercial harvesting removed large numbers of abalone from all parts of Haida Gwaii through the mid to late 20th century (Foster 1989). Extreme reductions in abalone populations, however, resulted in the closure of the abalone fishery across the whole coast of British Columbia in 1990 (Sloan 2004). The abalone case is 18

Haida Gwaii Environment west coast of Moresby Island to the protected inlets and inner waterways of the east coast.

interesting as overharvesting has largely reduced abalone populations to small, crevice-dwelling individuals, a situation likely analogous to that which existed when sea otters were still common in the area (Cooper et al. 1977). This is also creating contemporary management conflicts, as Parks Canada is subject to recovery plans for both northern abalone and sea otter populations, two largely mutually exclusive taxa (Sloan 2004). Logging has occurred throughout Haida Gwaii to varying degrees, beginning in the late 19th century, and “is currently by far the major modifying or disturbing factor on the Queen Charlotte Islands” (Banner et al. 1989: 272; cf. Burles et al. 2004; Foster 1989; Grzybowski and Slocombe 1988). Salmon populations have also been heavily affected in recent times, through a combination of severe habitat degradation and over-fishing, to the point where some species have become extinct in many of the streams in Haida Gwaii (Foster 1989; Northcote et al. 1989). Finally, commercial whaling in Haida Gwaii, based out of whaling stations at Naden Harbour and Rose Harbour, occurred from 1911 to the mid 1940s, and had a significant impact on local populations due to the harvesting of over 8,000 whales over the roughly 30-year life of these whaling stations (Foster 1989).

Parks Canada's mandate includes the management of ecological and cultural aspects of Gwaii Haanas. These management aspects are somewhat problematic in that both the long-term ecology and the long-term culture history of Gwaii Haanas are relatively poorly understood. Cultural data is largely limited to survey work that has simply identified site locations, and has primarily focussed on sites located at the current shoreline (see Chapter 6). As indicated above in the discussion of the sea-level history for Haida Gwaii, much of the occupational history of the archipelago should be represented at sites that are not located on current shorelines. Similarly, ecological knowledge is largely restricted to knowledge about the contemporary ecology, a system that has developed following the recent major impacts outlined above (section 3.3).

3.4 Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site The archaeological component of the current research project was carried out entirely within the boundaries of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site (hereafter “Gwaii Haanas”). The establishment of Gwaii Haanas was precipitated by battles over logging in southern Haida Gwaii, and in 1985 the Haida Nation designated the southern Moresby Island area a “Haida Heritage Site” (Parks Canada 2006). Southern Moresby Island was set aside as a National Park Reserve in July of 1988 through an agreement between the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia (Parks Canada 2006; Suddes 1989), and, as illustrated in Figure 3.1, encompasses roughly the southern 15%, or 145,000 hectares, of Haida Gwaii (Grzybowski and Slocombe 1988). The establishment of the park as a National Park Reserve reflects the location of the park on land with unsettled land claims. In 1993, Canada and the Haida Nation signed the Gwaii Haanas Agreement, establishing the co-management of the region by Parks Canada and the council of the Haida Nation under the umbrella of the Gwaii Haanas Archipelago Management Board (Parks Canada 2006). Gwaii Haanas, while representing a large landmass with significant internal local ecological variability, falls entirely within the Queen Charlotte Ranges physiographic area as defined by Sutherland Brown and Yorath (1989; see Figure 3.2). This is reflected in the steep, high mountains that form the backbone of Gwaii Haanas, with the shorelines generally comprised of thin terraces of low relief backed by relatively steep slopes. Environmental variability within this region results largely from variable exposure, from the hyper-exposed

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CHAPTER 4. HAIDA ETHNOGRAPHY Haida group, traditionally spoken at Skidegate Inlet and in the Moresby Island and Kunghit Island areas to the south (Blackman 1990; Curtis 1916; Enrico 1989). Dialectual and cultural differences existed within these two major groupings, and typically “the Haida tribe is divided, culturally and linguistically, into four branches, three of which are found on the Queen Charlotte Islands off the northern coast of British Columbia” (Murdock 1934b: 355; cf. Blackman 1981). These include the Masset Haida, occupying the Masset Inlet area of northern Graham Island, the Skidegate Haida, occupying the village of Skidegate and adjacent areas of southern Graham Island and northern Moresby Island, and the Kunghit Haida, occupying Kunghit Island, Anthony Island, and the southern Moresby Island area (Blackman 1981, 1990). The fourth branch, occupying southern Prince of Wales Island, Dall Island, and adjacent parts of southeast Alaska, as well as parts of the northwest corner of Graham Island and Langara Island, is known as the Kaigani or Alaskan Haida (Blackman 1981, 1990). An expanded variation on this system identifies six groupings of Haida peoples (Blackman 1990: 240; Swanton 1905a: 105). These were the Kaigani people, the people of the north coast of Graham Island, the Skidegate Inlet people, the people of the west coast of Moresby Island, the people of the east coast of Moresby Island, and the Kunghit people (Blackman 1990: 240). The more simplified system of four groups may represent the effects of population decline and amalgamation following European contact. A seventh group, the Pitch Town People, were said to occupy the west coast, and were outside the crest system that characterised the remaining Haida (Blackman 1990: 240; Swanton 1905a: 90).

Ethnographic documentation of the Haida, specifically ethnographic study by trained anthropologists, did not begin until the early 20th century, after radical changes had occurred in Haida society as a result of European contact (Blackman 1990: 257). Numerous earlier observations of the Haida by European explorers, fur traders and other observers have been recorded and provide an earlier perspective on Haida economy and society throughout the dynamic contact and fur-trade periods. These sources, critical to the current project, will be extensively reviewed in Chapter 5. Some more prominent and lengthy reports from the late 19th century are more relevant to an overview of the ethnographicperiod Haida, including those of Chittenden (1884), Dawson (1880a), Deans (1899), Harrison (1892, 1925), and Swan (1876). While many of these late-19th-century observers were not trained as ethnographers, they contributed considerable ethnographic observations of the Haida. The earliest and most detailed systematic ethnographic observations of the Haida were those of Boas (1889) and his student Swanton (1905a). Later prominent ethnographic descriptions of the Haida include those of Curtis (1916), Murdock (1934a, 1934b, 1936), and Blackman (1981, 1990, 1992). The following sections provide brief overviews of various aspects of Haida culture as seen through ethnographic sources. These sources largely present Haida culture as it existed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, though many ethnographers also attempted to reconstruct Haida life in earlier times through the memories and oral histories of their informants. Though Haida culture at this time represented the end product of 100 to 125 years of the impact of European contact, this view of Haida culture, and similar ethnographic-period views of other Northwest Coast cultures, have dominated much of the subsequent thought and research on the Haida in anthropology and related disciplines. However, it is the aim of the current project to examine late Holocene Haida economy and culture and to explore the changes that occurred in Haida culture and economy during the contact period. An understanding of ethnographic Haida culture provides an important context for understanding these earlier periods. The following discussion draws primarily on the general ethnographies of the Haida presented by Blackman (1990) and Swanton (1905a), though other sources are consulted as cited below.

By the ethnographic period (i.e., late 19th and early 20th centuries), Haida settlement on Haida Gwaii was largely restricted to two major villages, namely Skidegate and Masset on Graham Island (Blackman 1990), as well as the village of Hydaburg in southeast Alaska (Allen 1955). This was the end product of roughly 100 years of sequential amalgamation of the Haida population (Acheson 1998; Dawson 1880a). In the mid-1830s, “John Work named thirteen permanent towns on Queen Charlotte islands with an estimated population of nearly six thousand seven hundred, and six villages on Prince of Wales island with more than seventeen hundred people” (Curtis 1916: 115; cf. Dawson 1880a; Harrison 1925). Swanton and Newcombe identified as many as 126 habitation sites, likely including both villages and smaller camps, remembered by Haida informants from the period between roughly 1850 and 1860 (Blackman 1981, 1990; Swanton 1905a). In 1884, Chittenden noted that “there are seven inhabited, and fifteen deserted villages upon [Haida Gwaii]” (1884: 22; cf. Dawson 1880a). From a more recent archaeological perspective, MacDonald (1983) documents 21 villages, ranging from small villages with only a few houses to villages of nearly 40 houses, that are relatively well represented in early historic accounts and photographs. Though MacDonald’s

4.1 Language, Territory and Settlement Broadly, the Haida language has been linked to a larger Na-Dene language family which also includes Tlingit and Athapascan (Sapir 1915; Ruhlen 1998), though others have been critical of such a grouping (Dumond 1969; Enrico 1989; Levine 1979) and it is perhaps better classed as a language isolate (Levine 1979). More specifically, the Haida language has been divided into two major groups, a Northern Haida group, spoken on northern Graham Island and in southeast Alaska, and a Southern 20

Haida Ethnography gift from a father to his son, from one moiety to the other (Blackman 1990). Lineages also owned “incorporeal properties,” including names, dances, songs, stories, and crest figures (Blackman 1990). Though crests were typically passed to subsequent generations through inheritance, Curtis (1916) also notes that crests could be obtained as spoils of war. Kinship terminology among the Haida is a variant of the Crow type, wherein terms are cross-generationally skewed (Allen 1954, 1955; Blackman 1990).

account is by no means exhaustive, it does provide an indication of the organization, locations, and sizes of habitation sites occupied through the historic period prior to the ultimate amalgamation of the Haida in the three main ethnographic-period villages listed above. Archaeological research and survey work has identified numerous other village and camp sites throughout Haida Gwaii, including villages not recorded by Swanton (1905a) or MacDonald (1983), that were clearly occupied into at least the early fur-trade period (Acheson 1998, 2005; Mackie and Sumpter 2005; see Chapters 6 and 7 and Appendix A).

There appears to have been no systematic ranking among Haida lineages, though this is debated and is unclear in some sources (Blackman 1990). Chiefly authority existed on several levels, including those of the house, the lineage and the village (Blackman 1990; Dawson 1880a). “Any man who owns a dwelling, either through inheritance or by amassing sufficient wealth to erect one for himself, is a house chief” (Murdock 1934a: 237). A house chief held authority over all individuals who resided within his house, and he directed all economic activities of the household (Blackman 1990; Murdock 1934a). Each lineage was headed by a hereditary lineage chief, who controlled access to the properties owned by the lineage (Blackman 1990; Murdock 1934a). A lineage chief “can normally count on the support of his house chiefs, but he cannot command their obedience or punish insubordination” (Murdock 1934a: 237). In multi-lineage villages the highest authority lay with the “town master” or “town mother” (Swanton 1905a: 68; cf. Blackman 1990). This position was typically held by the highest ranking house chief of the lineage which owned the village site, though in practice this general rule was flexible (Blackman 1990: 251-252). Chieftainships were inherited along matrilineal lines (Blackman 1990; Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a; Deans 1899). Traditionally, chiefs were all men, and Curtis suggests that “only recently, and because of depletion of population, have women succeeded to the seats of nobility” (1916: 118). He also states, however, that women may have held the position of town chief in earlier times (Curtis 1916: 119; cf. Dawson 1880a).

Blackman (1981, 1990) records a number of factors that appear to have influenced the location of Haida villages. These include “natural protection from storms and enemies, proximity to halibut banks and shellfish resources, availability of drinking water, and adequate beachfront for landing canoes” (Blackman 1990: 241; cf. Blackman 1981; Dawson 1880a). Traditional houses were constructed from red cedar timbers and planks in two primary styles, and were typically arranged in one or two rows following the shape of the beach fronting Haida villages (Blackman 1981, 1990; Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a; MacDonald 1983; Swanton 1905a). These large, multilineage Haida winter villages may not be typical of pre-contact villages, but may have largely developed during the contact period (Acheson 1998, 2005). The late pre-contact settlement pattern appears to have been characterized by numerous small, dispersed village sites that were occupied throughout the year (Acheson 1998, 2005; Chapter 7). The question of whether these earlier villages were single lineage or multilineage in content is unclear (Murdock 1934a, 1934b; Wike 1957; Swanton 1905a). By the time ethnographers were visiting Haida Gwaii, the Haida were primarily concentrated in only a few major villages. Furthermore, traditional houses had been largely replaced by European-style housing, and Blackman indicates that “by 1905 the last traditional house had disappeared from Masset” (1990: 257). 4.2 Kinship and Social Organization Haida kinship was and is reckoned through matrilineal lines, and Haida society is divided into two exogamous moieties, Ravens and Eagles (Blackman 1981, 1990; Curtis 1916). Each of these moieties is composed of a number of lineages, and “in 1900–1901, elderly Haidas recalled 22 Raven and 23 Eagle lineages, numbers that had surely fluctuated through time as lineages grew in size, split apart in conflict, and formed new groups” (Blackman 1990: 248). Ultimately, Haida lineages trace their origins to supernatural Eagle and Raven women who originated in a series of mythical “story towns” (Swanton 1905a; cf. Blackman 1990). Haida lineages were typically named after the group’s place of origin or after special qualities possessed by the group, and some lineages were further divided into sublineages (Blackman 1990). Lineages owned property in the form of rights to resource-harvesting locations and house sites in winter villages, and these rights and properties could be transferred from one lineage to another or, in the case of a

Though no systematic ranking system appears to have existed among Haida lineages, the Haida did recognize both an internal ranking of individuals within lineages and a form of class system. Internal rank was particularly evident at feasts and potlatches, where guests were seated according to rank (Blackman 1990). The Haida class system included three distinct classes, nobles, commoners, and slaves (Blackman 1990; Deans 1899; but see Drucker 1939). Nobles were individuals for whom potlatches had been held during childhood by their parents, and who thus held one or more potlatch names. Chiefs were drawn from this class. Low-ranking individuals who had not received potlatch names during childhood belonged to the general class of commoners. Slaves, individuals captured during wars and raids and the offspring of such individuals, were considered property, and were inherited with other property (Blackman 1990; Curtis 1916).

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Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Their spears were about ten feet in length with a barbed head of iron. Before iron was introduced the barbs were fashioned from whalebone or ordinary bone. Bows were made of yew and about four feet long. ... The arrow was made of a pointed headpiece of mussel shell or bone. Similarly, ornaments traditionally worn by the Haida are of considerable interest given the artifacts recovered during the current archaeological project (Chapter 7) and the importance of ornamental trade items during the maritime fur trade (Chapter 5). Dawson (1880a: 107B) notes that “feathers, buttons, beads, portions of the shell of the Haliotis [Abalone], with the orange-coloured bill of the puffin, are used as ornaments, strung together or sewn on the clothes,” and further notes that “the Dentalium shell was formerly prized and frequently worn, but has now almost disappeared.” Other aspects of Haida material culture are discussed in relation to subsistence practices below.

Closely tied to Haida rank and class organization are aspects of Haida ceremonialism. In particular, feasts, potlatches, and dance performances were the prerogative of high-ranking nobles, and “in fact, the hosting of such affairs was one of their responsibilities” (Blackman 1990: 252). As indicated above, potlatches were the major venue for the conferring of owned names, which form a major component of the rank and class systems (Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a). Potlatches were also held upon the completion of a cedar-plank dwelling and to mark the death of high-ranking individuals, while minor property distributions were also given “to mark female puberty; to respond to a high-ranking member of the opposite moiety who had impugned one’s status; and to erase the memory of a mishap causing loss of composure..., in which a member of the opposite moiety came to one’s assistance” (Blackman 1990: 252; cf. Chittenden 1884; Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a; Deans 1899). 4.3 Material Culture Building on the maritime, coastally dominated territory of the Haida (Chapter 3), and facilitating the extremely maritime-oriented Haida subsistence and economic practices (section 4.4), Haida material culture is largely geared towards a maritime lifestyle. The Haida were particularly known for their well-crafted and skilfullypiloted canoes (Dawson 1880a; Harrison 1925; Swan 1876), which were a major item of trade with other coastal groups (see below). Canoes were typically formed from a single large red cedar log and several varieties were made (Murdock 1934a; Swan 1876). Furthermore, “the occupation of canoe maker was recognized as an economic specialty” (Blackman 1990: 246). Similarly, the Haida were also renowned for another aspect of largescale woodworking, namely their monumental art: houses and totem poles (Blackman 1981, 1990; Chittenden 1884; Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a; Deans 1899; MacDonald 1983; Swan 1876). These contexts served as media for developing and expressing the essentially twodimensional Haida decorative art style, with canoes, house fronts, house posts, and totem poles often heavily decorated (Blackman 1990). In addition, these designs and art styles were applied to the carving of argillite, which, while possibly practised to some degree prior to contact, was intensified during the historic period to meet European demand for the curio trade (Blackman 1976, 1990; T. Gessler 1971; Gessler and Gessler 1976; Mullins and Paynter 2000). Other aspects of Haida material culture were more functional, designed to facilitate the gathering, hunting, and fishing practices of the Haida seasonal round (Dawson 1880a; Harrison 1925). Basketry was made from spruce root and the inner bark of red cedar in various styles, and was used to gather, process, and store various foods, as well as to construct various items of clothing (Blackman 1990; Dawson 1880a).

4.4 Subsistence and Economy Haida ethnographic data relevant to subsistence and economy are of paramount importance for the purposes of the current project. Unsurprisingly, given the productive marine environment and relatively impoverished terrestrial environment of Haida Gwaii (Chapter 3), traditional Haida subsistence was heavily marine-oriented (Blackman 1981; Boas 1889; Chittenden 1884; Dawson 1880a; Harrison 1925). Fish and shellfish comprised the bulk of the aboriginal diet, probably followed in order by sea mammals, vegetal products, and land mammals. Most important were resources that were preservable; seasonal variability of food resources required that large quantities of food be stored for the lean winter period (Blackman 1990: 244). Halibut are generally reported as the most quantitatively important fish, though salmon, particularly chum, are often identified as the most important winter food (Blackman 1990; Chittenden 1884; Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a). Numerous other fish, notably the sablefish or black cod and herring, are also important in ethnographic accounts (Blackman 1981; Chittenden 1884; Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a; Hobler 1978b). In terms of sea mammals, “the Haida hunted seals, porpoises, sea lions, fur seals, and sea otters” (Blackman 1990: 244; cf. Dawson 1880a). The Haida also utilised stranded drift whales (see Figure 4.1; Blackman 1990; Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a), and may have engaged in active whaling to some degree (Acheson and Wigen 2002; Dawson 1880a). Use of terrestrial mammals was limited by the low diversity and abundance of such resources. Nevertheless, the Haida hunted caribou on Haida Gwaii, deer and beaver in southeast Alaska, and black bear throughout Haida territory (Blackman 1990). A variety of fish and mammal meats were preserved via smoking and drying and were stored for winter consumption. Birds, while varying in their distribution across the archipelago (Chapter 3), also made a contribution to Haida diet, and Blackman

Of particular relevance to the current project are aspects of material culture related to Haida economy and subsistence. Harrison (1925: 84-85) provides the following notes: 22

Haida Ethnography These locations were the inherited property of the families that occupied them” (1916: 131). Blackman indicates that this cycle “varied regionally because of local variations in available species and seasonality” (1990: 244). Such regional and local variability may have been further emphasized during pre-contact and early contact times when settlement was characterised by more numerous, small, dispersed villages (e.g., Acheson 1998). Generally, seasonal subsistence activities included (Figure 4.2): herring fishing in the spring; halibut fishing and seal hunting in the spring, summer, and early fall; sockeye fishing in late May and early June; the harvesting of nesting sea birds, particularly ancient murrelets and Cassin’s auklets, in June; the collecting and preservation of berries in the late summer; fishing for chums and hunting of ducks, geese, bears, and martens in October; the preserving and transport of stored goods to winter villages by the end of November; and the collection of various shellfish throughout the winter (Blackman 1981: 14-15, 1990: 245; cf. Swanton 1903). Some aspects of the subsistence economy changed with the advent of European contact. For example, “potato cultivation was introduced by traders, and by 1825 the Haida were growing large quantities of potatoes that they exchanged with the Coast Tsimshian and, later, with the Hudson's Bay Company” (Blackman 1990: 255).

Figure 4.1. Young humpback drift-whale off the southeast coast of Moresby Island, July 2004.

indicates that “some 25 species of birds...contributed to the diet of the people of northern Graham Island” (1990: 244; cf. Dawson 1880a). A diversity of plants, some of which were stored by drying, boiling in water, sun drying, or encasing in eulachon grease, formed another component of the diet, and included seaweed, several species of berries, roots, spruce and hemlock cambium, crabapples, shoots, and fern rhizomes (Blackman 1990; Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a). Murdock states that “the women and children gather enormous quantities of huckleberries, cranberries, salal berries, salmonberries, strawberries, etc., which, dried and stored, constitute a major item of subsistence” (Murdock 1934a: 223). Prior to the introduction of European domestic plants, the only widely recognized agriculture practised by the Haida was the raising of tobacco (Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a; Deans 1890; Heizer 1940; but see Deur and Turner 2005; Dixon 1933), and more recently potatoes were a major staple in the Haida diet (Dawson 1880a; Harrison 1925). Harrison, for example, states that “a goodly sized kettle containing fish and another full of potatoes formed generally the centre around which the family gathered for its meal” (1925: 61-62). Shellfish likely formed a limited component of the diet throughout the year, but may have been of particular importance during severe winters when stored foods were in short supply (Blackman 1990; Dawson 1880a). Ellis and Wilson (1981) record greater than 20 species of invertebrates that were commonly used by the Skidegate Haida (cf. Blackman 1990). Ethnographically, a marked seasonal cycle of subsistence activities was recorded (Curtis 1916; Dawson 1880a; Harrison 1925). Curtis indicates that “the Haida occupied their permanent villages throughout the winter, and in spring moved into scattered camps on the small islands and along the coast of the larger ones.

As indicated above, halibut is generally described as the most important subsistence resource of the Haida (Orchard and Wigen n.d.). Harrison records that: The Haidas are particularly fond of the halibut, and catch a considerable number for their own consumption during Winter and for trade with the mainland Indians. They now use as bait a herring ... formerly the favourite bait was octopus, and these cephalopods were caught by probing under rocks on the beach with a long slender rod to which a hook was attached (1925: 183).

Figure 4.2. Seasonally available resources utilised by the Haida according to ethnographic accounts.

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Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods inhabitants are scattered from the main villages; each little party camped or living in temporary houses of slight construction in the vicinity of the streams they own (Dawson 1880a: 110B; cf. Murdock 1934a). Curtis notes that “on account of its keeping qualities, dog-salmon [chum] was the principal storage food, and was used throughout the winter whenever the weather did not permit fishing” (1916: 131). Though Harrison (1925) also indicates that salmon were traditionally taken using wood-stake weirs and basket traps, an alternate form of salmon fishing is presented in his discussion of sea lions in the waters surrounding Haida Gwaii. Specifically, he states that the Haida “say that during the Spring salmon season [sea lions] are apt to be dangerous for when a salmon is hooked a sea-lion will sometimes seize hold of the catch, and unless the fisherman cuts loose, the sealion will probably upset the canoe” (Harrison 1925: 181). This quote implies that the Haida, at least in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, occasionally pursued salmon by trolling from canoes. Similarly, Langdon (1977, cited in Blackman 1990), stated that the Alaskan Haida trolled for chinook salmon. In contrast, Murdock (1934a) states outright that the Haida did not use hook and line to capture salmon. Rather, in addition to weirs as discussed above, he states that “they catch [salmon] at the mouths of streams with dragnets, and in waterfalls or rapids with fish-spears or harpoons with detachable barbed heads of bone” (Murdock 1934a: 224).

Curtis further emphasises the Haida focus on Halibut, stating that “the principal occupation of the men in spring and summer was halibut fishing, and the women were kept busy slicing and drying the fish” (1916: 131). Dawson (1880a: 109B-110B; cf. Murdock 1934a) provides a good description of halibut fishing and butchery: When the [halibut] are most plentiful the Haidas take them in large quantities, fishing with hook and line from their canoes, which are anchored by stones attached to cedar-bark ropes of sufficient length. They still employ either a wooden hook armed with an iron—formerly bone— barb, or a peculiarly curved iron hook of their own manufacture, in preference to the ordinary fish-hook. ... The halibut brought to the shore are handed over by the men to the women, who, squatted on their haunches, rapidly clean the fish, removing the larger bones, head, fins and tail, and then cutting it into long flakes. These are next hung on the poles of a wooden framework, where, without salt—by the sun alone, or sometimes aided by a slow fire beneath the erection—they are dried, and eventually packed away in boxes for future use. This description is particularly interesting for several reasons. First, the description of halibut processing suggests that butchery occurred on the beach, and that the majority of the bones were discarded at that location. This provides a cultural explanation for the relatively low numbers of halibut bones recovered from archaeological sites throughout Haida Gwaii (Chapter 7; Orchard and Wigen n.d.). Additionally, it is interesting that halibut clearly were preserved for delayed consumption, and that in the late 19th Century a mix of traditional and introduced technologies were being employed.

Black cod or sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria), not truly a member of the cod family but a species more closely related to greenling, sculpins, and rockfish, are common off the west coast of the islands, where they were traditionally fished (Chittenden 1884; Dawson 1880a; Harrison 1925; Hobler 1978b). According to Curtis (1916: 131), “in June great quantities of black cod were caught in very deep water off the west coast, and the extracted oil was stored in chests” while “some of the fish were split and dried.” Similarly, Chittenden (1884) noted that black cod were processed largely for oil, in a manner similar to the processing of eulachon by the Tsimshian (cf. Dawson 1880a). He further comments on the relative ease with which black cod were caught in 1884 using traditional methods: Messrs. McGregor and Combes caught 110 [black cod] in three hours, about two miles from shore, opposite Gold Harbour, Moresby Island, fishing from a canoe manned by three Indians, with two kelp lines, 250 fathoms in length, with 60 native hooks upon each, baited with halibut. The fish dressed weigh on an average six pounds each, the largest being thirty-three inches in length. They are easily cured with salt and keep well (Chittenden 1884: 10). Dogfish [a type of shark] are particularly common in the late summer and fall, and were traditionally caught in large numbers and processed into oil (Dawson 1880a; Harrison 1925). In the late 19th century, Dawson stated that dogfish are “not eaten by the Haidas, but the oil

Though there are no large rivers on Haida Gwaii, and thus salmon spawning habitat is limited compared to the mainland, salmon are nevertheless described in ethnographic accounts as constituting the other major Haida subsistence resource next to halibut. Though small runs of sockeye salmon ascended some of the larger streams in Haida Gwaii, these apparently made only a minor contribution to Haida diet (Dawson 1880a: 110B). Chum salmon, in contrast, were larger and far more numerous, and comprised a significant portion of ethnographic Haida subsistence: [Chums] ascend even very small streams when these are in flood with the autumn rains, and being easily caught and large, they constitute the great salmon harvest of the Haidas. They are generally either speared in the estuaries of the streams or trapped in fish-wiers [sic] made of split sticks, which are ranged across the brooks. The various ‘rivers’ are the property of the several families or subdivisions of the tribes, and at the salmon fishing season the 24

Haida Ethnography and Palmisano 1974; Hines and Pearse 1982; Lowry and Pearse 1973).

extracted from the liver is readily sold to white traders, and constitutes one of the few remaining articles of legitimate marketable value possessed by the natives” (1880a: 111B). Similarly, the ratfish, another cartilaginous fish of the Class Chondrichthyes, was processed into an oil that was considered a higher quality than that obtained from dogfish (Harrison 1925). Herring were an important food source both as adult fish and as roe, while herring were also used as bait for other fish (Harrison 1925). Herring roe were traditionally collected by submerging spruce or hemlock branches on which the herring would spawn, or by collecting the kelp on which herring more traditionally deposit their roe (Blackman 1981; Dawson 1880a; Harrison 1925). When dried and boxed, herring roe were an important trade item between the Haida and mainland tribes.

Sea otters were becoming relatively scarce around the islands by the end of the 1820s (Chapter 5), though they apparently persisted in low numbers until the early 20th century. Ethnographic discussions of sea otter hunting are particularly worthy of consideration given the focus of the current project. Charles Harrison, based on observations and he recorded while living in Haida Gwaii at the end of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s, provides the following discussion of sea otter hunting: [In the late winter and early spring, Haida hunters] would go to their sea-otter camps down the West coast. When the weather was fine and the sea calm, about a dozen canoes would set forth in company; an otter would be sighted from some distance away, and the hunting party would creep up and surround it before it saw them. When the sea-otter had sighted their canoes it would dive and remain below for some time, but it had to come up to breathe, and successive dives became shorter, and when it was exhausted it was shot. The skins were sold to the Hudson Bay Company on their return home. ... For many years now no sea-otter has been shot in the waters surrounding the Queen Charlotte Islands, they appear to have been well-nigh exterminated (Harrison 1925: 91-92). Harrison (1925: 92-93) further states that guns, “generally old-fashioned Hudson Bay muzzle-loading muskets,” were employed in this hunting. Prior to the use of guns, sea otters, as well as seals and sea lions, were hunted from canoes using bows and arrows or harpoons (Murdock 1934a). “The native harpoon consists of a light cedar shaft, a detachable barbed head of bone, and a strong line equipped with a float or bladder” (Murdock 1934a: 224). A variety of techniques were employed in the capture of other prey. Bear, land-otter, and marten were traditionally taken using deadfall traps (Harrison 1925; Murdock 1934a), though in more recent times these have often been replaced by steel traps (Harrison 1925).

Other fish are relatively little mentioned in ethnographic accounts, and are described as making only minor contributions to Haida diet. Dawson (1880a: 110B), for example, states that “trout, herring, flounder, rock-cod, &c., constitute minor items in the dietary.” Of particular note is the near absence of rockfish from ethnographic accounts. Dawson’s (1880a: 110B) vague mention of “rock-cod” is likely a reference to rockfish, a diverse group of closely related species of the genus Sebastes that occur in large numbers throughout the varied nearshore and offshore environments that surround Haida Gwaii (Hart 1973; Love et al. 2002). In contrast to the near absence of rockfish in ethnographic accounts, they form a major component of virtually all late Holocene faunal assemblages that have yet been analysed from Haida Gwaii (Chapter 7). The relative importance of rockfish in the Haida economy, however, consistently declined throughout the centuries preceding contact, and thus rockfish may have been little used and little considered by ethnographic times. Shellfish, particularly clams and mussels, formed a portion of the Haida diet during the winter months (Dawson 1880a; Murdock 1934a). At other times of the year “they are reputed to be poisonous, and more than once have proved fatal to those eating them” (Dawson 1880a: 112B). Other shellfish were also utilised to some degree, particularly black katy chitons and giant Pacific chitons (Dawson 1880a: 112B). Of particular interest to the current project, Dawson noted in the late 19th century that “sea-urchins...are often brought ashore in large quantities, and it is surprising to observe how many of these rather watery creatures an Indian...will devour in making a light lunch” (1880a: 112B). Similarly, Harrison (1925: 187) notes that the Haida “utilize the mollusc, known as abalone or haliotus, for food; they boil them or roast them on hot rocks at the camp fire.” The prevalence of sea urchins and abalone in the nearshore waters of Haida Gwaii, and thus their prevalence in the Haida diet, may largely represent a pattern that appeared after the extirpation of sea otters (see Chapter 3; Sloan 2004). In earlier times, sea urchins and abalone were undoubtedly less abundant, and were likely restricted to relatively small-bodied crevice-dwelling populations that were less impacted by otter predation (Cooper et al. 1977; Estes

Another aspect of the Haida economy was the gendered, and to some extent class-based, division of labour. Ethnographic accounts of Haida gender roles are relatively consistent. They indicate that men generally fished, hunted, constructed houses and canoes, and undertook carving and painting, while women gathered roots, berries, seaweed, cedar bark, and spruce root, processed and preserved all food items, prepared animal skins, and made all clothing and basketry (Blackman 1990; Ellis and Wilson 1981; Murdock 1934a, 1934b). Both sexes collected shellfish and hunted birds, and other aspects of the division of labour were also largely flexible (Blackman 1981, 1990). Murdock indicates that it is the woman of a house that is officially responsible for the potlatch and the distribution of goods (Murdock 1934a: 243-244). Otherwise, Murdock implies that men are responsible for all trade and exchange. 25

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Aleutian Islands and southwest Alaska in the mid- to late 18th century, however, and they did not begin actively working on the Northwest Coast until approximately 1788, where they fell into competition with traders from other European nations (Gibson 1988). Nevertheless, the presence of Russian traders in Alaska in the mid- to late 18th century, may have contributed to a possible protohistoric period in Haida Gwaii. The first well documented, direct European contact in Haida Gwaii occurred in 1774, when Juan Perez made contact with the Haida near Langara Island at the northern end of the Queen Charlotte archipelago (Blackman 1981, 1990; Chittenden 1884; Gough 1989; Harrison 1925). Murdock indicates that Haida Gwaii was “possibly seen by a Spanish expedition under De Fonte in 1640,” (Murdock 1934a: 261; cf. Harrison 1925) but that “the Haidas had their first real contact with the whites when visited by Pérez and Bodega in 1774 and 1775” (Murdock 1934a: 261; cf. Gough 1989). The Spanish, however, did not become heavily involved in the maritime fur trade, and had relatively limited activities on the coast (Gibson 1988). The Frenchman La Perouse “coasted along the West shores of [Haida Gwaii] in 1786, and was the first to observe that [the islands] were distinct and separated from the mainland” (Harrison 1925: 25). French presence on the coast was also very limited, however, and generally Perez’s contact in 1774 was followed by a period of roughly 10 years during which contact was limited to infrequent visits by Europeans on primarily exploratory missions. Though the voyage of George Vancouver along the shore of Haida Gwaii in 1793 occurred later, this voyage was similarly aimed at exploration, and little to no contact was made with the Haida (Gough 1989).

Trade is an important aspect of the traditional Haida economy, and according to Blackman “many necessary items were acquired by the Haida through trade with neighboring groups, particularly the Coast Tsimshian and the Tlingit” (1990: 246). In terms of trade goods, the Haida traded canoes, slaves, opercula shells, seaweed, dried halibut, and other items (Blackman 1990). In return, they received copper, Chilkat blankets2, and moose and caribou hides from the Tlingit, eulachon grease, dried eulachon and soapberries from the Coast Tsimshian, and slaves from the Kwa’kwaka’wakw (Blackman 1990: 246; cf. Dawson 1880a). These well established traditional trade networks pre-adapted the Haida, and other Northwest Coast groups, to the maritime fur trade with Europeans, and many early traders commented on the well developed trade skills of the Haida (see Chapter 5). The practice of slavery by the Haida and other Northwest Coast groups is also related to discussions of trade. Though slavery was certainly practised by the Haida prior to contact (Chittenden 1884; Dawson 1880a), trade in slaves also became a component of the multifaceted trade that existed during the maritime fur-trade period. 4.5 Haida History since European Contact The history of the Haida since European contact can be divided into several periods with fundamentally differing interactions. The initial contact period, spanning perhaps the first ten years after first contact (ca. 1774 to the early 1780s for the Haida) was characterised by infrequent European visits to the coast, and by minimal contact and interaction. This period, however, necessarily saw some major changes in Haida, and general Northwest Coast First Nations’, world views, as a new group of people, namely Europeans, was incorporated. This was then followed by the maritime fur-trade period (ca. 1780 to 1830) and, for the purposes of the current review, the post-maritime fur-trade period. The nature of interactions in these two periods was also fundamentally different. Fisher (1992), for example, argues that the fur-trade period was a period of reciprocal relations between Europeans and First Nations, and did not have a major impact on the lives of First Nations peoples. In contrast, the settlement period, as Fisher (1992) calls the post-furtrade period, saw the growth of the permanent European population on the coast, and had a much more significant and negative impact on First Nations populations.

The Maritime Fur Trade The initial contact period, lasting less than a decade, saw relatively infrequent contact, and had correspondingly little impact on the First Nations peoples of the Northwest Coast. In contrast, the succeeding maritime fur-trade period, lasting from roughly 1785 to 1830, had a much larger impact on Haida economy and society. It was Cook's famous voyage to the Northwest Coast in 1778 that revealed the possibilities of the maritime fur trade (Dawson 1880a; Gibson 1988; Quimby 1948). The massive demand and high price of sea otter furs in China encouraged many to seek their fortunes through trading ventures to the Northwest Coast. Following the publication of the journal of Cook's voyage, the maritime fur trade began in earnest in 1785 (Quimby 1948: 247248; cf. McMillan and Yellowhorn 2004). The Englishman George Dixon, visiting the islands in 1787, was perhaps the first trader to realise the wealth of furs available in Haida Gwaii, collecting a total of 1,821 sea otter skins from the islands (Blackman 1981; Dawson 1880a; Gough 1989). After this time, Haida Gwaii became one of the most prominent locations for the acquisition of sea otter furs on the Northwest Coast, and rarely was a ship not within Haida Gwaii waters during the summer trading season. Captain William Douglas, in 1788, was the first recorded European to set foot on

European Contact As discussed in Chapter 2, the earliest European contact with First Nations peoples in the northeastern Pacific Ocean was initiated by the Russians, with Russian interest in the region beginning as early as 1742 (Gibson 1988). Russian interests were largely focussed in the 2 Chilkat blankets were blankets woven by the Chilkat Tlingit from mountain goat wool. They were highly valued and sought after by many Northwest Coast groups.

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Haida Ethnography The maritime fur trade also introduced great wealth to both the Haida and the European traders. While European traders gained wealth through access to the valuable sea otter furs, considerable new aspects of material culture were introduced to the Haida. “Among the most significant items were iron pieces...that were worked into adz blades by the natives, chisels and knives, sheet copper, muskets, tin wash basins, kettles, liquor, cloth, and items of clothing” (Blackman 1990: 255). Generally, however, the fur trade, at least in the initial period, did not drastically change First Nations’ societies, but built on existing aspects of those societies (e.g., Fisher 1992). During the initial fur trade period, utilitarian items were in generally low demand and those that were adopted were incorporated into existing lifeways rather than being used as intended by Europeans (Marshall and Maas 1997). Similarly, the introduction of increased wealth and new sources for the accumulation of wealth may have amplified pre-existing inequalities in Haida society (Collins 1950). Most of the trade, for example, was conducted with chiefs; little to no trade was carried out by individual families (Fisher 1992). The new wealth brought by the fur trade was not evenly spread among Indian groups. Disparities in wealth, and therefore in power, undoubtedly increased (Fisher 1992: 20). Furthermore, the wealth of the fur trade probably increased territoriality, and facilitated an increase in the number and size of potlatches (Fisher 1992: 209).

Haida Gwaii, “exchanging names with the chief of Kiusta” (Blackman 1981: 21; cf. Chittenden 1884; Dawson 1880a; Gough 1989). The American Captain Robert Gray visited Haida Gwaii in 1789, and introduced the potato to the Haida (Blackman 1981). During the roughly 45-year span of the maritime fur trade, contact was frequent as Europeans and Americans travelled to the coast in increasing numbers seeking their fortune from the lucrative maritime fur trade. The British dominated the Northwest Coast trade for approximately the first ten years, but had virtually disappeared from the coast by the early 1800s (Gibson 1988). British difficulties were largely the result of two monopolies granted by the British crown, which limited the activities of other British traders. The South Sea Company had been previously granted a monopoly on English trade in the Pacific, while the British East India Company had a monopoly on English trade in China. British traders thus needed licenses from both companies to collect furs on the Northwest Coast and trade them in the lucrative markets of China, resulting in a lack of profit for British traders. As such, the majority of the maritime fur trade was dominated by American vessels, primarily from Boston (Gough 1989; Malloy 2000). This is reflected in figures for the numbers of vessels on the coast presented by F. W. Howay (1973; cf. Howay 1932), which demonstrated the shift from British to American dominance: 1785-1794: 35 British; 15 American 1795-1804: 9 British; 68 American 1805-1814: 3 British; 43 American 1815-1819: 4 British; 54 American Though Howay suggests that some British vessels likely remained active in the trade under the flags of different nations, the majority of the vessels were truly American (1932: 5).

As the maritime fur-trade period progressed, relations between the Haida and the European traders often worsened. Poor treatment, or at least perceived poor treatment of the Haida by traders, likely combined with a desire to gain more wealth quickly, led to several attempts by Haida groups to capture trade ships (Howay 1925, 1928, 1929). As early as 1791, the Haida of Houston Stewart Channel, under the leadership of Chief Xo'ya, attempted to capture the Lady Washington, under the command of Captain Kendrick (Acheson 1985; Howay 1928, 1929). This and similar incidents resulted in forceful retaliation by the Americans, and numerous Haida were killed. Combined with increased warfare resulting from the introduction of firearms, and the introduction of infectious diseases as discussed below, such incidents had significant impacts on the Haida population.

Impacts on Haida economy and culture during this period of intensive contact were variable and are often difficult to clearly identify. With its almost singular focus on the sea otter, the maritime fur trade encouraged a similar narrow focus among aboriginal groups throughout the Northwest Coast, particularly the Haida, the Nuu-chahnulth, and the Tlingit, upsetting the relative stability of the pre-contact economies (Blackman 1990; Robinson 1996). As Robinson indicates, “instead of following the yearly round of food gathering, many chiefdoms banked on the continuing availability of white food and went off on extended binges of sea otter hunting” (1996: 13-14). Similarly, Drucker states that “it is apparent that much more time was devoted to sea-otter hunting in the period of the fur trade than in aboriginal days” (1965: 195). That is not to say, however, that sea otter were not hunted prior to the maritime fur trade. As indicated in Chapter 3, the Haida did hunt sea otter prior to contact, and otter populations may have been depleted in the areas around major village sites (Sloan et al. 2001: 29). Rather, the initiation of the maritime fur trade seems to have led to changes in the scheduling and organization of Haida economic pursuits.

Post-Maritime Fur Trade Though the immediate effects of the maritime fur trade brought considerable wealth to the Northwest Coast, the trade was short-lived, as sea otter populations dwindled through the early decades of the 19th Century and were locally extinct along most of coastal British Columbia by the 1830s (Banfield 1974; Estes et al. 1978; Fisheries and Oceans Canada 2002; Hanson and Kusmer 2001). The maritime trade was ultimately replaced by a land-based trade and, by the late 1830s, the Haida were trading at the newly established Fort Simpson (Marsden and Galois 1995: 177). 27

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods to regain some of the wealth lost to the end of the maritime trade (Blackman 1976; Fisher 1992: 44; Gessler and Gessler 1976; Mullins and Paynter 2000; Swan 1876). The curio trade was not new at this point, as the Haida were certainly trading cultural artifacts during the years of the thriving maritime fur trade as well (Malloy 2000). Rather, the end of the fur trade led to an intensification of such alternative economic pursuits.

This post became a meeting ground for Tsimshian, Southern Tlingit, and Haida who went there to trade for the next 40 or so years, not only with the White traders but also with one another. The Hudson's Bay Company disbursed its famed blankets, rice, flour, and other staples, cloth, and clothing to the Haida in exchange for furs (mostly land furbearers), dried halibut, potatoes, and dried herring spawn (Blackman 1990: 255; cf. Blackman 1981). In1855, the Hudson’s Bay Company established a trading post in the village of Masset (Chittenden 1884). With this shift of European economic activities to a land-based trade, the British, in the form of the Hudson's Bay company, once again became dominant on the British Columbia coast. Though the maritime trade was essentially finished by this point, the nature of the trade remained largely the same. Essentially, trade remained a mutually beneficial economic relationship between First Nations and the traders (Fisher 1992). Furthermore, the establishment of trading posts by the H.B.C. did not constitute a conquering of the territory. Rather, the Natives allowed the establishment of these forts because of the benefits they provided (Fisher 1992).

In addition to heavily impacting the Haida economy, this period of increasing European contact introduced diseases and changed settlement patterns. Among the Haida, the combination of population decline from introduced diseases and increased warfare, along with the end of the maritime fur trade and the establishment of centralised trading forts, led ultimately to the sequential amalgamation of numerous small, dispersed villages into two larger villages at the northern end of the Queen Charlotte archipelago (Acheson 1998). The Haida had first contracted smallpox by the late 18th century (Blackman 1990), and population declines from this and other diseases occurred throughout the 19th century (Boyd 1985, 1994, 1996; Chittenden 1884; Dawson 1880a; Harris 1994; Henderson 1974). By 1890, all the surviving Haida on Haida Gwaii, numbering less than 1,000 (Duff 1965; Harrison 1925) from a pre-contact population that was likely greater than 10,000 (Acheson 1998; see Chapter 5), had settled in the villages of Skidegate and Masset on Graham Island to the north of Gwaii Haanas (Blackman 1990; Murdock 1934b), removing a major component of the regional ecology. A similar pattern also occurred among the Alaskan Haida, who sequentially amalgamated in fewer, larger villages, and ultimately congregated primarily in the village of Hydaburg (Allen 1955; Blackman 1990). Speaking of the population of northern Graham Island, Blackman states that the “amalgamation of the northern Haida population was likely due to three factors–the establishment of a Hudson's Bay Company trading post at Masset in 1869, the arrival of the Anglican mission in 1876, and the severe population decline brought about by the introduction of smallpox and other communicable diseases" (Blackman 1972: 214).

Much as the maritime fur trade saw increased contact and increased impact among the coastal First Nations than did the previous period of limited contact, so did the postmaritime fur trade, characterised by the establishment of permanent trading forts and a generally increased European presence, cause even more intensive changes to the native lifestyle. This period of permanent fur trade posts had much greater impact on Native life then the fleeting contacts of earlier maritime traders. Wherever forts were established, Native communities grew up around them, and came to rely on European goods rather than their former economic cycle. Such readily available items as the Hudson’s Bay Company blanket replaced laboriously produced traditional crafts. Firearms from traders made intertribal warfare more deadly, and alcohol brought social problems and demoralization to many groups (McMillan and Yellowhorn 2004: 224). Economic changes also occurred, with the Haida actively adapting to the establishment of the land-based trade and the end of the maritime fur trade. They began to cultivate potatoes as an alternative to declining sea otters, and potatoes became their staple trading article (Blackman 1981; Fisher 1992). Dogfish oil also became a major item of trade during this period, and Dawson states that “the oil extracted from the liver [of Dogfish] is readily sold to white traders, and constitutes one of the few remaining articles of legitimate marketable value possessed by the natives” (1880a: 111B; cf. Swan 1876). Additionally, the Haida created many curios for trade as well as manufacturing cedar canoes for sale, and were thus able

In more recent times, a variety of additional changes and impacts have occurred. In the 1850s “ships hitherto not seen in any numbers since the demise of the maritime fur trade thirty years previously began to appear in search of gold, spars and dried fish” (Gough 1982: 133; cf. Gough 1989). From 1854 onwards, the Haida began visiting Victoria annually, both to trade and to seek work as labourers (Fisher 1992: 63; cf. Blackman 1990). These trips to Victoria had myriad effects on the Haida, from warfare with the Kwa’kwaka’wakw in villages along the route to increased drinking and prostitution in Victoria (Blackman 1990). In addition, “travellers to Victoria in 1862 brought a devastating smallpox epidemic back to the Queen Charlotte Islands” (Blackman 1990: 255), largely contributing to the population declines and village amalgamations discussed above. Other changes began when Reverend W. H. Collison established the first mission in Haida Gwaii at Masset in 1876 (Blackman 28

Haida Ethnography 1981, 1990; Fisher 1992; Harrison 1884; Henderson 1974). This was followed by increasing missionary presence, which rapidly led to the Haida adoption of Christian mortuary practices and the abandonment of many aspects of traditional Haida culture, though “potlatching and feasting remained integral to Haida culture” (Blackman 1990: 256; Harrison 1884; Henderson 1974). The period between 1875 and 1910 was, according to Blackman (1981, 1990), characterised by the most dramatic changes in Haida culture. This period saw the decline of traditional housing styles, a decline in the raising of totem poles, and the banning of the potlatch (Blackman 1990). Notable in the post-fur-trade period is the development of Haida dependency on European goods and the rise of Haida underdevelopment as described by dependency theory (e.g., White 1983; Chapter 2). While the Haida clearly became “dependent” and relatively underdeveloped during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the historic “roots” of this dependency (White 1983) are somewhat unclear. The degree to which this dependency arose during the maritime fur-trade period will be examined further in the remainder of this dissertation. More recent Haida history will not be examined in the current dissertation. Good discussions of recent Haida history are provided by Blackman (1981, 1992), Gough (1989), Stearns (1981, 1990), and van den Brink (1974).

29

CHAPTER 5. ETHNOHISTORIC DATA Chinese tobacco, smoking pipes, fabric, needles, and silver coins” in the hands of the Tlingit (Grinëv 2005: 3). This event likely represents the first appearance of many of these items on the Northwest Coast (Jacobs 1990; Wike 1951). Russian activities in Alaska, then, as well as the land-based fur trade in parts of central and eastern Canada, undoubtedly had an indirect effect on the Haida, creating a proto-historic period of unknown length. This may be partly reflected in observations of iron implements among the Haida in the accounts of the earliest European observers. Nevertheless, these early ethnohistoric accounts provide a wealth of information that is often undervalued or ignored by contemporary anthropologists working in the region. Certainly, these sources provide a better insight into traditional lifestyles than those recorded in the later ethnographies (Galois 2004: 30). Gough, for example, states that “the maritime fur traders, British, French and American, who came to the [Queen Charlotte] archipelago and adjacent coastline in the years 1789 to 1820...gave us the first significant description of the Islands, including some of the first European views, such as those of George Dixon, of Haida villages, environment, and material culture” (1989: 251).

Early historic accounts provide a useful source of data for addressing questions about changes to Haida economy and culture during the maritime fur trade period. Explorers and fur traders from initial contact through the early period of the maritime fur trade recorded a wealth of observations on Northwest Coast peoples through their journals and accounts of their voyages. Like much of the later ethnographic data, these accounts tended to be biased against information relating to women – male traders tended to record information on male activities (Fisher 1992). This has been widely acknowledged, with women's economic contributions generally underrepresented in Northwest Coast ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources (Claassen 1991; Moss 1993; Norton 1985). Additionally, many of the early logs and accounts of the fur traders are dominated by information on the tedious aspects of everyday life on board late 18th and early 19th century sailing vessels. These ethnohistoric accounts are extremely valuable, however, as they predate the formal ethnographic accounts of the Northwest Coast. As such, they provide a picture of Northwest Coast cultures prior to the infamous “ethnographic present,” and prior to many of the changes which were initiated with increasing European encroachment. The earliest of these accounts can thus provide considerable insight into aspects of pre-contact indigenous life on the Northwest Coast. Furthermore, the focus of many of these accounts tends to be economic, which is well suited to the concerns of the current volume.

The ethnohistoric overview in this chapter does not represent an exhaustive review of all early historic sources on the Haida. Rather, a wide selection of sources has been consulted in an attempt to elucidate commonalities among the accounts, as well as to examine possible changes within Haida lifestyle across the maritime fur-trade period and prior to the period of more systematic ethnographic research. The choice of sources for this overview was in many ways constrained by the lack of availability of many early accounts. Journals and logs are not extant from all early voyages to the Northwest Coast, while many of those that did survive to the present exist only in manuscript form in archives, libraries, and museums across North America and Europe. Fortunately, a high level of general interest in these accounts, as well as their utility for historical, anthropological and other research, has led to the publication of many of these sources. The voyages for which sources were reviewed for the current project are summarised in Table 5.1. These sources span the period from 1774, the first contact between the Haida and Europeans, to 1812, a time when sea otters were largely extirpated from Haida Gwaii, and thus visits by European traders declined. Though all references to Haida economy in these sources are of some relevance, references to regions of Haida Gwaii for which comparable archaeological data are available (Chapter 7) are particularly important. The relevant locations of contact between the Haida and the explorers and traders that frequented the waters of Haida Gwaii in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, are listed in Table 5.1, with their locations diagrammed in Figure 5.1.

5.1 Ethnohistoric Sources Starting with the earliest contact between Europeans and the Haida, namely the contact between Juan Pérez and the northern Haida in the vicinity of Langara Island in 1774, notes and records on Haida culture have been kept in the form of ships’ logs and journals of the traders and explorers who visited the area. Juan Pérez, of course, was not the first non-native to reach the western shores of Alaska or British Columbia, nor the first to make direct contact with the aboriginal peoples of the northern Northwest Coast. As early as 1741, Chirikov, representing Russia, sailed into the Alexander Archipelago of southeast Alaska (Grinëv 2005; Jacobs 1990; Wike 1951). While trying to replenish water supplies on board his ship, the Sv. Pavel, Chirikov sent a whaleboat ashore in the vicinity of 58º north latitude. This boat and a subsequent one sent to find the first were never seen again by the crew of the Sv. Pavel (Grinëv 2005). The fate of these boats and their crews has been long debated, with theories including the capsizing of the boats and drowning of the crews due to strong tidal currents, their immediate capture or murder by the Tlingit, or intentional desertion and settlement among the Tlingit (Grinëv 2005; Jacobs 1990). Regardless of their fate, however, it is important that the loss of these boats placed guns, broadswords, cutlasses, and a small cannon, as well as “small gifts in the form of kettles, beads,

On a methodological note, the following sections contain many, and often relatively large, direct quotes from the 30

Ethnohistoric Data th

th

Table 5.1. Summary of late 18 and early 19 century voyages among the Haida represented in the sources consulted for the current ethnohistoric review. Dates at or Near Haida Gwaii

Captain(s)

Ship(s)

Location of Contact with the Haida (see Figure 6.1; Kunghit area in italics)

Source(s)

19 July 1774

Juan Pérez

Santiago

Langara Island; Cloak Bay

Beals 1989

May – July 1779

Ignatius Artega & Quadra

Princesa & Favorita

SE Alaska – considerable time spent in Bucareli Bay, near Kaigani Territory

Riobo 1918

July 1787

George Dixon

Queen Charlotte

Langara Island; Cloak Bay; West Coast; Hippah Island; Houston Stewart Channel; Skincuttle Inlet; Juan Perez Sound

Beresford 1968

August 1787

James Colnett & Charles Duncan

Prince of Wales & Rose Harbour; Houston Stewart Channel Princess Royal

May 1788

Charles Duncan

Princess Royal

May – Sept. 1788

John Meares

July 1788

James Colnett

May – June 1789 June 1789

Colnett 2004; Galois 2004

Luxana Bay; East Coast Moresby Island; Skidegate area; Juan Perez Sound

Galois 2004

Felice

No Haida contact

Meares 1967

Prince of Wales

Rose Harbour; Houston Stewart Channel; Juan Perez Sound; West Coast

Colnett 2004; Galois 2004

Robert Gray

Columbia

Langara Island; Houston Stewart Channel Haswell 1969a

William Douglas

Iphigenia

Masset Inlet; Cloak Bay

April 1791

Thomas Barnet

Gustavus

Houston Stewart Channel; Skincuttle Inlet; Bartlett 1925 Tanu; Cumshewa Inlet; Cloak Bay; Skidegate

July 1791

Robert Gray

Columbia

Houston Stewart Channel; Cumshewa Inlet; Masset Inlet

Boit 1969; Hoskins 1969

July – August 1791 Joseph Ingraham Hope

Cloak Bay; Skincuttle Inlet; Juan Perez Sound; Laskeek Bay

Ingraham 1971; Howay 1920

August 1791

Étienne Marchand

Solide

Cloak Bay; Langara Island; West Coast Graham Island

Fleurieu 1969

April – Sept. 1792

Robert Haswell

Adventure

Skidegate Inlet (West End); Cloak Bay; Masset Inlet; Cumshewa; Tasu Sound

Haswell 1969b Caamano 1938

Meares 1967

May – Sept. 1792

Jacinto Caamano Aranzazu

SE Alaska; Langara Island

July 1792

Joseph Ingraham Hope

Cloak Bay; Cumshewa; Tanu; Juan Perez Ingraham 1971 Sound; Skincuttle Inlet; Houston Stewart Channel

May – August 1795

John Boit

Union

Skincuttle Inlet; Cumshewa; Langara Island; Naden Harbour; Houston Stewart Channel

Boit 1981

June – August 1795

Charles Bishop

Ruby

Skincuttle Inlet; Juan Perez Sound; Cumshewa Inlet; SE Alaska

Bishop 1967

Feb. – May 1799

James Rowan

Eliza

Cloak Bay; Langara Island; Kaigani

Sturgis 1978

March 1811 – Sept. 1812

David Nye

New Hazard

Cumshewa Inlet; Skidegate Inlet; SE Alaska; Kaigani; Tanu area; Masset

Reynolds 1938

sources provide useful compilations of data derived from extensive research of published and unpublished ethnohistoric accounts. Fisher (1992), for example, has provided detailed discussions of the relationships between First Nations and Europeans during the 18th and 19th centuries, while Gibson (1988, 1992) has examined in detail the various economic, social, and political aspects of the maritime fur trade. Other works, such as those of Howay (1973) and Malloy (1998) aimed to document the ships that were engaged in trading activities on the Northwest Coast throughout the maritime fur trade and the early years of the land-based trade. Of more specific interest for the current project are previous sources that have drawn insight into pre-ethnographic Northwest Coast First Nations cultures from the early ethnohistoric accounts (Acheson 1998, 2005; Gunther 1972; Wike 1951, 1957, 1958). These varied secondary sources are also cited below as relevant.

early accounts and descriptions of the Haida, as the goal of this chapter is to synthesize early historic data relevant to a consideration of Haida economy during the earliest contact period and the maritime fur trade. The language skills of the writers of these accounts varied greatly, and as such many of the quotes that follow contain considerable numbers of mistakes in spelling and grammar. Rather than attempt to systematically correct the language of these quotes or to note each error in spelling, they have been presented as written in the original sources. In addition to primary sources on the Haida, numerous secondary ethnohistoric sources are relevant to this discussion. As indicated above, considerable interest has been paid to the early historic accounts of voyages to the Northwest Coast both from historical and anthropological perspectives. As such, numerous published secondary 31

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods sources of the nature of the pre-contact economy of the Haida. This section aims to provide a summary and synthesis of references to Haida economy in a sample of these early accounts, with the aim of constructing a picture of the traditional Haida economy for comparison and synthesis with archaeological and ethnographic data. Traditional Haida subsistence was undeniably marineoriented, and was particularly focussed on fish. Hoskins provided extensive early descriptions of Haida economy, based on observations at Houston Stewart Channel: Their principal dependence for food is on the sea; where they procure fish of different sorts; such as whale, large pieces of which I have seen them eating in their canoes; ... they also get sharks, which are here very large; porpoises, halibut, a kind of cod, etca. clams, limputs, muscles and other shell fish. they eat the flesh of seals, sealions, sea otters, and the various animals and birds the woods afford. they also eat the inner rind of a bark, boiled or stewed; which we took to be hemlock; the different sorts of fern roots, etca. (Hoskins 1969 [1791]: 206). Bartlett (1925 [1791]: 306), based on observations among the northern Haida at Cloak Bay in June 1791, also noted that “most of their living is fish which they cook in baskets by first digging holes in the sand and making the sand hot; then setting the basket in it and feeding it with hot stones until the fish is boiled enough.” The extreme marine dependence of the Haida described in these early accounts certainly fits well with late pre-contact archaeological data (Chapter 7) and with later ethnographic accounts (Chapter 4). These general descriptions also point to the diversity of floral and faunal taxa that contributed to Haida diet.

Figure 5.1. Map of Haida Gwaii and the Northwest Coast, showing locations mentioned in the cited ethnohistoric accounts.

5.2 Haida Economy and Society during the Early Contact Period

Of particular interest in terms of subsistence resources, is the heavy emphasis placed on halibut as the primary subsistence resource among the Haida in the late 18th century (Orchard and Wigen n.d.). Mention of halibut is a near-universal in historic accounts from this period, even when general descriptions of Haida subsistence are lacking. Beresford, in the vicinity of Juan Perez Sound in late July 1787, noted that “some of [the Haida] had been on a fishing party, and caught a number of halibut, which proved a very seasonable supply, our fish having been expended some time” (Beresford 1968 [1787]: 220). On the 20th of August, 1787, near the eastern entrance to Houston Stewart Channel, Colnett indicated that “as we drew in with the Shore...a Canoe paddled to us from seaward, ... had a sea Otter in, & several Halibut, which they readily barter'd for, taking Iron in exchange” (Colnett 2004 [1787]: 125). Several days following this, Colnett again mentioned the acquisition of food from the Haida in Rose Harbour, stating that “in the Morning the 24th the Natives brought us plenty of Black currants, raspberry, & Halibutt which they took trifling articles in exchange for” (Colnett 2004 [1787]: 129). Similar accounts of the purchase of often relatively large quantities of halibut from the Haida occur in virtually all

Drawing on the ethnohistoric sources outlined above, the remainder of this chapter aims to summarize data relevant to the characterization of the late pre-contact Haida economy, and to address questions of changes to that economy, and to other aspects of Haida life, that occurred during the European contact period. This topic is very broad, and thus the following section has been subdivided into a series of subsections that address more specific aspects of Haida economy through the late pre-contact and maritime fur trade periods as seen through early ethnohistoric accounts. Of initial importance is a consideration of the nature of the Haida economy during the latest pre-contact, as this formed the baseline from which contact period changes could occur. Insight into Traditional Haida Economy and Settlement Many early historic accounts contain considerable insight into the traditional, or at least the earliest historic, economic practices and subsistence resources of the Haida and other Northwest Coast groups. Furthermore, these accounts, particularly those from the earliest period of contact and the maritime fur trade (ca. 1774 to 1800), provide the best approximation available from written 32

Ethnohistoric Data Winter food, all of them at this season being full of Fine Salmon (Bishop 1967 [1795]: 82-83). This pattern may be limited to the Kaigani Haida of southern Alaska, however, and generally descriptions of salmon use, let alone emphasis on the heavy importance of this taxon, are limited in 18th century historic accounts of the Haida occupying the Queen Charlotte Islands.

of the early sources consulted (Boit 1981 [1795]: 43; Haswell 1969a [1789]: 98; Ingraham 1971 [1791]: 102; Taylor 1788, quoted in Galois 2004: 240, 247). More extensive descriptions of Haida use of halibut are also found in some early accounts. One of the most insightful accounts of halibut use comes from Colnett’s (2004) descriptions of the Kunghit Haida encountered at Rose Harbour in 1787: Their fishing Instruments are confind within a very narrow Compass; besides those for striking Whales & Otters, only saw Hooks for catching snapper & Halibut which these Isles abound with & are the only kind found in plenty; great Quantity is cut into thick pieces & dry'd in the sun for their winter's stock (Colnett 2004 [1787]: 135). The importance of halibut is also emphasized by Andrew Bracey Taylor, third mate on the Prince of Wales under the command of Colnett, who stated that “the fish which they catch is nearly confined to one sort, namely Halibut, some of them are six feet long, and solid in proportion, requiring a Tackle to hoist one into the Ship” (Taylor 1787 quoted in Galois 2004: 136-137). References to dried halibut, such as that of Colnett above, though not particularly common in early accounts, are worthy of attention. Bartlett, off of Skincuttle Inlet in April of 1791, states that “we bought some dried halibut off these natives” (1925 [1791]: 298). Similarly, Ingraham (1971 [1791]: 123) received a gift of “about twenty pounds of dried halibut” from chief Kanskeeni and other Haida in Houston Stewart Channel in August of 1791. These indications of the drying of halibut suggest the use of dried halibut as a winter staple by the Haida in the late pre-contact period.

The paramount importance of halibut and the seemingly low importance of salmon in the Haida diet reported in these accounts are intriguing. This was also noted by Acheson, who stated that “Haida subsistence differed historically from other coastal groups given the much greater emphasis on the halibut fishery than on salmon” (1998: 73). Ethnographically (Chapter 4), both salmon and halibut were suggested as important Haida subsistence resources. Late pre-contact and early contact period archaeological data (Chapters 6 & 7), however, point to a pattern in strong contrast to that of the ethnohistoric accounts, with salmon almost universally dominant among the faunal assemblages, while halibut is present in only very small, though persistent, quantities. The relatively low numbers of halibut recovered in late Holocene and early contact period deposits in Haida Gwaii (Acheson 1998; Wigen 1990; Chapters 6 and 7), may be the result of behavioural and taphonomic factors (Orchard and Wigen n.d.; Steffen and Mackie 2005; Stewart 1977; Wigen 1990; Zohar et al. 2001; see Chapter 7). The relative dearth of references to salmon utilisation in the early accounts, on the other hand, may relate to aspects of seasonality. Unlike halibut, which were available throughout the year (Jones 1999), salmon abundance was greatest in the late summer and fall, with salmon consumed fresh at these times and as stored food during the winter months (Blackman 1981, 1990). Chum salmon, in particular, were the dominant taxon utilised by the Haida according to ethnographic accounts (Chapter 4), and chums were primarily fished during their spawning runs in October. At least during the 18th century, the majority of the trading voyages to the coast occurred during the spring and summer months, with traders overwintering in Hawaii or China (Howay 1932, 1973). Thus, the traders tended to be amongst the Haida at a time when halibut were being actively fished, but prior to the salmon fishing season and after preserved stores of salmon were likely exhausted from winter consumption (Orchard and Wigen n.d.).

In contrast to the ubiquitous references to halibut, the general lack of references to salmon in early accounts of the Haida is striking. Exceptions, when they do occur, certainly do not highlight salmon as a major resource. Near Skidegate in May of 1791, Bartlett noted that “the captain bought a few salmon and served out two to each mess” (1925 [1791]: 302). Joseph Ingraham aboard the Hope anchored near Langara Island in July 1791 stated that “we were daily supplied with good fresh halibut, cod, and salmon at a very moderate price” (Ingraham 1971 [1791]: 106), and similarly while visiting Juan Perez Sound in July 1792 states that “we got here plenty of fine halibut, salmon, and berries” (1971 [1792]: 200). Ingraham, however, summarises his observations of the Haida by stating that “the food of these people seem chiefly to consist of animals, the major part halibut and sea otters” (1971: 152). A more robust description of the importance of salmon is contained in the account of Bishop in July of 1795, though this was based on observations among the Kaigani Haida in southeast Alaska: This large tribe, in the summer is divided into distinct Familys the head of Each being a Petty Chief, and reside in separate Coves and Creeks where they procure their

Aside from halibut and salmon, references to Haida use of specific taxa are scarce. In reference to Haida use of eulachon, Reynolds, aboard the New Hazard, states on the 22nd of June, 1811, that “at two fell in with a large number of canoes going from Skittigas [Skidegate] to Nass for shrowton [eulachon]” (1938 [1811]: 28). Eulachon oil was recognized as a great luxury among the Haida, and some traders on the later decades of the maritime trade operated as middlemen in the transport of Eulachon oil to Haida Gwaii (Howay 1938: xiv-xv). Rockfish were briefly mentioned by Boit, aboard the Columbia in Houston Stewart Channel in July of 1792: “the Natives supplied us with plenty of Halibut and Rock 33

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods one strung on a piece of sail-making twine with a large light-blue glass bead the size of a hazel nut” and that his trousers “were also trimmed with many of these cash, so that he sounded like a carriage mule, as he walked” (Caamano 1938 [1792]: 219). In a footnote in the published version of Caamano’s account, W. A. Newcombe indicates that “Chinese cash and brass thimbles replaced the puffin beaks or deer hoofs commonly used on ceremonial costumes as rattles” (Caamano 1938 [1792]: 219).

Cod, for which we p[ai]d them in Nails” (Boit 1969 [1792]: 372). Aside from this brief note, however, rockfish (Sebastes spp.) are virtually absent from ethnohistoric accounts, mirroring their similar absence from ethnographic descriptions of Haida resource use. Other aspects of Haida economy in the early fur-trade period were recorded by Beresford in 1787 on the east coast of Moresby Island (likely Skincuttle Inlet or Juan Perez Sound): Besides the large quantity of furs we got from this party, (at least 350 skins) they brought several racoon cloaks, each cloak consisting of several racoon skins, neatly sewed together; they had also a good quantity of oil in bladders of various sizes, from a pint to near a gallon, which we purchased for rings and buttons: this oil appeared to be of a most excellent kind for the lamp, was perfectly sweet, and chiefly collected from the fat of animals (Beresford 1968 [1787]: 219). Taylor also mentions that oil in bladders was purchased from the northern Haida on the west coast of Graham Island (Taylor 1787 quoted in Galois 2004: 240). The mention of racoon cloaks in Beresford’s account is intriguing, as racoons were not present in Haida Gwaii until they were introduced in the mid-1940s (Chapter 3). The presence of racoon furs thus implies trade or direct contact with the mainland or other islands where racoons were present. Harrison (1925: 42), for example, suggested that “as racoons are not found on the Queen Charlotte Islands, these skins were probably obtained from Vancouver Island where the animals are or were plentiful.” References to plant foods are also relatively uncommon, though berries are often mentioned as being acquired from the Haida along with fish. Among the northern Haida near Masset in July of 1792, Haswell “purchased huckleberries, raspberries, and the finest flavored strawberries I ever tasted” (1969b [1792]: 341).

Other insight into Haida economy is gained through a consideration of the furs, primarily sea otter, that were acquired and traded during the maritime fur trade. Additionally, as mentioned above, early historical accounts suggest that sea otters comprised a significant source of food for the Haida in late pre-contact times, a suggestion that is supported by archaeological (Chapter 7) and ethnographic (Chapter 4) data. The importance of sea otters, both in terms of the fur trade and in terms of Haida subsistence, justifies detailed consideration of sea otter hunting. Descriptions of traditional sea otter hunting among the Haida are not available. Meares, however, provides a good description of more traditional sea otter hunting techniques among the Nuu-chah-nulth of western Vancouver Island, recorded in the summer of 1788: two very small canoes are prepared, in each of which are two expert hunters. The instruments they employ on this occasion are bows and arrows, and a small harpoon. ... Thus equipped, the hunters proceed among the rocks in search of their prey. Sometimes they surprise him sleeping on his back, on the surface of the water; and, if they can get near the animal without awakening him, which requires infinite precaution, he is easily harpooned and dragged back to the boat, when a fierce battle often ensues between the otter and the hunters, who are frequently wounded by the claws and teeth of the animal. The more common mode, however, of taking him is by pursuit, which is sometimes continued for several hours.–As he cannot remain under water but for a very short time, the skill in this chace [sic] consists in directing the canoes in the same line that the otter takes when under the water, at which time he swims with a degree of celerity that greatly exceeds that of his pursuers. They therefore separate, in order to have the better chance of wounding him with their arrows at the moment he rises; though it often happens that this wary and cunning animal escapes from the danger which surrounds him (Meares 1967 [1788]: 260-261). Also of interest, Meares (1967 [1788]: 258) states that: The occupations of men on this coast were such as arose from their particular situation. Fishing, and hunting the land or larger marine animals, either for food or

More indirect references also provide considerable insight into traditional Haida economic pursuits. Interestingly, Colnett stated that “[the Haida] have [an instrument] formd by several small Hoops fix'd one within the other, at some little distance with a Cross Bar for a Handle Hung with the Bills of Hawks, & when shook is much better music than their Bird [rattle] & to the Cloths of the Chief are hung Hawks Bills or deers Hoofs” (Colnett 2004 [1788]: 135). Galois (2004; cf. Ingraham 1971 [1791]: 109) suggests that these “hawk” bills are more likely the bills of puffins, which are relatively numerous in the waters surrounding Haida Gwaii (Chapter 3). The deer hooves are more difficult to explain, and possibly represent caribou hooves obtained from within Haida Gwaii, or deer hooves traded from the mainland or from southeast Alaska. The use of these traditional items as pendants or tinklers provides insight into Haida use of numerous trade-period goods as well. Caamano, near Langara Island in 1792, states that Cuneah’s clothing “consisted of two loose frock coats one over the other, ornamented with Chinese cash, each 34

Ethnohistoric Data extent, rockfish, are also significant. This is similar to patterns described in ethnographic accounts, while presenting a slight contrast to the archaeological data presented in Chapters 6 and 7 (Orchard and Wigen n.d.).

furs, form their principal employments.– The common business of fishing for ordinary sustenance is carried on by slaves, or the lower class of people:–While the more notable occupation of killing the whale and hunting the sea-otter, is followed by none but the chiefs and warriors. Though minor details may have varied, it is likely that a similar pattern was followed among the Haida. Furthermore, the introduction of firearms, which occurred relatively early in the fur-trade period, may have had an impact on the traditional economic activities of the Haida. Sturgis provides an account, from the 4th of March 1799, of a Kaigani Haida man hunting a sea otter near the ship: One of the natives to day killed a Sea Otter in sight of the Ship with a musket, and his perseverance after him to get a shot was surprising. When he first approached him, he dove before the man was within two Gun shot. Whether they saw him as he swam under water (which I am inclined to believe) or whether he paddled about the spot, knowing the Otter must naturally rise again before could get out of the Cove, I know not; but the man paddled about a quarter of a mile up the Cove and as he was coming back again, the Otter rose about twelve rods before the bow of the Canoe and was instantly shot through the head. Then they threw a spear into him to keep him from sinking; took him into the Canoe, and brought him alongside (Sturgis 1978 [1799]: 43-44). Aside from the use of a musket as opposed to a bow and arrow, however, this account differs little from the description of more traditional otter hunting given by Meares. Furthermore, Townsend (1983; cf. Wike 1951) has argued that trade firearms prior to 1850 were of little advantage over traditional technologies, and thus they may have had little to no effect on the efficiency of sea otter hunting. Nevertheless, the adoption of firearms for this purpose as documented by Sturgis (1978 [1799]), suggests that this new technology must have had some advantage over traditional technologies. This is supported by Wike, who indicates that “sea-otter hunting proficiency was improved, but it was improved along old lines. The kill was more assured with the new weapon but it took the same number of men to make it in the same kind of canoes” (1951: 93).

In addition to the Haida subsistence economy, early historic sources also provide considerable insight into changes in Haida settlement patterns. It is interesting, for example, that most of the encounters between European or American traders and the Haida occurred in the waters offshore from relatively large amalgamated villages. Virtually all of the villages mentioned by the traders consist of the relatively substantial villages mapped and documented by MacDonald (1983). It is perhaps not surprising, then, that hints of a large degree of seasonal mobility are provided in descriptions from even early in the fur trade period. Seasonal mobility was likely of greater necessity to the occupants of large villages that could not easily subsist on resources available in the immediate locality of the village (Acheson 1998; see Chapter 7). In fact, the draw of trade opportunities may have contributed to this high degree of mobility. Colnett, for example, noted in August of 1791 in Rose Harbour that “a Canoe...was passing by with a House & Household Furniture for where they dwell is quite a matter of Indifference to them, being generally confind to where the articles for subsistence are most plentiful” (2004 [1791]: 131). In Houston Stewart Channel in July of 1791, Hoskins observed the following: The weather being so very stormy...most of the natives who visited us yesterday took up their abode ashore, abreast of the ship: curiosity induced me to visit their habitations; which was the most wretched that is possible to be conceived of; it was formed by three poles lash'd fast to the trees, going on a slant, covered with large sheets of hemlock bark; but open on all sides, not room to stand, and scarce sufficient to set upright (Hoskins 1969 [1791]: 201-202). These observations contain several interesting points. First, Hoskins (1969 [1791]: 201-202) noted the visitation of Haida from the vicinity of Skincuttle Inlet or Juan Perez Sound, which points to a tendency for the Haida to be highly mobile during the trading months, moving to meet with the traders rather than waiting for the traders to come to them. While some part of this mobility may have been independent of the presence of traders, the historic accounts do not speak of other activities being conducted by Haida who set up temporary camps near trading vessels. Of equal importance, Hoskins’ account provides insight into the form of shelter used by the Haida at temporary camps set up while trading. By extension, these shelters were likely similar to those used at more traditional seasonal resource procurement sites, at least those occupied for only short periods of time. Later in his account, Hoskins elaborated, stating that “the [Haida] during the summer season live in scattered huts for the benefit of fishing” (1969 [1791]: 234). The notion of mobility associated with the trade was also noted by Sturgis, among the Tlingit of Sitka Alaska, who noted

The various traditional economic resources of the Haida identified in the 18th century historic accounts examined for this overview are summarised in Table 5.2. Though limited, these data nevertheless provide an interesting source of insight into Haida subsistence practices. Furthermore, as these sources all represent the earliest period of contact, these data provide a glimpse of Haida economy that is likely very similar to that which existed in the late pre-contact period. Generally, early historic sources suggest that fish are of paramount importance to the Haida. Halibut are generally described as the most important fish taxon, though salmon and, to a lesser 35

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods th

Table 5.2. Summary of Haida subsistence and trade resources mentioned in 18 century sources. The context in which each taxon was mentioned in the accounts is systematised as: items that were traded (“Trade”); items that were eaten (“Food”); or items that were used for decorative or wealth purposes. Common Name Fish Halibut

Salmon Sharks Snapper Rock Cod “fine red fish” Cod Eulachon Oil Birds Puffins Alcids Gulls Eggs Geese Eagle Mammals Sea Otter Seals Sealions Whales Porpoises Bears Ermine Sables Racoon Wolves Deer Hooves Animal Oil Invertebrates Clams Limpets Mussels Other Shellfish Octopus Flora Raspberries Huckleberries Strawberries Black Currants Berries Wild Liquorice Bark Cambium (Hemlock?) Fern Roots

Probable Taxon Hippoglossus stenolepis

Context Food; Trade Food; Trade

Oncorhynchus spp. Elasmobranchii Sebastes spp. Sebastes spp. Sebastes spp. (?) Sebastes spp. or Gadidae Thaleichthys pacificus

Food; Trade Food Food Trade Food Food; Trade Food; Trade

Fratercula spp. Alcidae Larus spp. Anserinae Haliaeetus leucocephalus

Decorative Food; Decorative Trade Trade

Sources Bartlett 1925; Boit 1981; Fleurieu 1969; Haswell 1969b Bartlett 1925; Beresford 1968; Boit 1981; Colnett 2004; Haswell 1969 s; Hoskins 1969; Ingraham 1971; Sturgis 1978; Taylor 1788 Bartlett 1925; Bishop 1967; Ingraham 1971; Sturgis 1978 Hoskins 1969 Colnett 2004 Boit 1969 Ingraham 1971 Hoskins 1969; Ingraham 1971 th Howay 1938; Reynolds 1938 (post-18 C.) Hoskins 1969 Galois 2004; Ingraham 1971 Colnett 2004 Haswell 1969a Ingraham 1971 Sturgis 1978

Enhydra lutris

Trade Food Food; Trade

All sources Hoskins 1969; Ingraham 1971 Hoskins 1969; Perez 1989

Food

Hoskins 1969

Food Food

Colnett 2004; Hoskins 1969; Reynolds 1938 (post-18 C.) Hoskins 1969

Trade Trade; Wealth Trade

Ingraham 1971; Perez 1989 Sturgis 1978 Ingraham 1971

Trade Trade Decorative

Beresford 1968 Perez 1989 Colnett 2004

Food; Trade

Beresford 1968; Colnett 2004; Galois 2004; Hoskins 1969

Bivalvia Patellogastropoda Mytilus spp. Mollusca Octopus dofleini

Food; Trade Food Food Food Halibut Bait

Colnett 2004; Hoskins 1969 Hoskins 1969 Hoskins 1969 Hoskins 1969 Colnett 2004

Rubus spp. Vaccinium spp. Fragaria chiloensis Ribes spp. Lupinus spp. Tsuga heterophylla

Trade Trade Trade Trade Trade Food Food

Colnett 2004; Haswell 1969b Haswell 1969b Haswell 1969b Colnett 2004 Colnett 2004; Ingraham 1971 Sturgis 1978 Hoskins 1969

Polypodiaceae

Food

Hoskins 1969

Phoca vitulina or Callorhinus ursinus Otariidae (cf. Eumetopias jubatus) Cetacea Delphinidae or Phocoenidae Ursus americana Mustella erminea Martes americana / Mustella ermine (?) Procyon lotor Canis spp. (cf. C. lupus) Odocoileus spp. or Rangifer tarandus

th

that “I find that they always, when a ship is here for trade, come from the village with all their family, Skins and movable furniture and live on the beach till she quits the Sound” (Sturgis 1978 [1799]: 33). These insights indicate that, while trade may have concentrated at or near a few of the large villages in Haida Gwaii, inhabitants of

numerous other villages generally travelled to temporary locations near the anchorages of the trade ships in order to engage in the trade. Trade, then, clearly did not directly occur at all villages in Haida Gwaii that were occupied during the maritime fur trade period.

36

Ethnohistoric Data addition to this general insight into the Haida skills in trading, more specific aspects of the trade process are recorded in many accounts. Speaking generally of the Haida encountered during the 1787 season, Beresford noted that “though every tribe we met with at these islands is governed by its respective Chief ... the Chief usually trades for the whole tribe; but I have sometimes observed that when his method of barter has been disapproved of, each separate family has claimed a right to dispose of their own furs” (1968 [1787]: 227). The role of chiefs in trade is also reflected by Fleurieu, who stated that “the chief was also charged to conclude the bargains for the whole tribe: and each of the natives for whom he contracted, approved and ratified the bargain in which he was interested” (1969 [1791]: 284).

As suggested by Acheson (1998; see Chapters 6 and 7), large, multilineage villages are primarily a post-contact, or at most a late pre-contact, phenomenon. The traditional importance placed on small, local, independent villages by the Haida is thus, unsurprisingly, reflected in some of the early accounts. Galois, for example, stated that “local autonomy, so prevalent among Northwest Coast societies, was particularly clear among the Haida, where ‘smallscale units (villages and small village groups, or even subsets of one village community) strove against each other.’ ... the arrival of Europeans intersected with, and likely exacerbated, indigenous patterns of tension and conflict” (Galois 2004: 39). Even with the amalgamation of the Haida either temporarily for trade, or more permanently in larger, multilineage villages, the tendency for diversified authority by smaller groups remained. Colnett, for example encountered two distinct groups of Haida at Rose Harbour in 1787: One, consisting primarily of people who lived in that vicinity, took up residence close to the vessels. These people were headed by three chiefs who visited daily: Coyah, regarded as the most important, Skelkinance, and Yuka. All three were on good terms with one another, and probably interrelated. ... [The second group] came from a ‘Northern district' and their chief was Sanjaskulah. ... there was clearly tension between Sanjaskulah and the ‘local’ chiefs (Colnett 2004 [1787]: 39-40). Thus, even with familiar groups of Haida among which animosity was low, namely the first group discussed by Galois, distinct factions remained, represented by different Chiefs and likely representing distinct local villages. Furthermore, Galois argues that these groups represent the Kunghit Haida to the south and the Tanu people of ethnographic accounts. Juan Perez Sound, the heart of the study area for the current archaeological project (Chapter 7), is described as a boundary zone between these two groups: Colnett identifies his anchorage near Scudder Point, on the southern side of Juan Perez Sound, as ‘marking the Boundary of the Northern and Southern tribe.’ This suggestion places the boundary of the ‘Southern’ or Kunghit people some way south of that given by Acheson [1998] (Galois 2004: 43). The possibility that the boundary between the Kunghit and their northern neighbours was shifting through conflict during the early contact period has implications for the cultural attribution of the sites tested during the current project. This may invest a new source of cultural variability into the assemblages from these sites.

Likely as a result of the tendency of chiefs to consistently trade for the people of their villages, the Haida occasionally developed preferential trade relationships with some traders. In June 1795, in the vicinity of Langara Island, for example, Boit notes that “at 2 PM A large canoe come of but brought no Skins...ye Natives told us they had plenty of Skins. But they was saving them for Vianna a Portugueze who had carried two of there Woman to Macoa” (1981 [1795]: 45). Galois (2004) indicates that these “friendly” relationships were conceived by the Haida as owned rights to trade relationships, analogous to other owned resource localities. Perhaps the most well known example of such a formal relationship occurred in the area of Cloak Bay in June of 1789, when chief Cunneah exchanged names with Captain Douglas of the Iphigenia (Meares 1967 [1789]: 365). A similar exchange of names occurred between Captain Chanal and a chief on the west coast of Graham Island (likely Rennell Sound) (Fleurieu 1969 [1791]: 309-310). The relative ease with which the Haida were able to adapt to the European maritime fur trade, and the fact that they were able to dictate the nature of trade for much of the early years of the maritime fur trade, was undoubtedly a result of the pre-existence of well developed indigenous trade systems throughout the Northwest Coast at the time of contact (e.g., Gibson 1988). The existence and continuance of these traditional trade networks is well documented in several early historic accounts (e.g., Galois 2004: 46). Furthermore, the wealth that was available to prominent indigenous traders through the maritime trade encouraged an amplification of down-theline trading of furs by groups directly involved in the maritime trade on the coast. Sturgis, among the Kaigani of southeast Alaska in March of 1799, made the following observation: The tribes that live on the Sea coast ... carry up their cloth, muskets &c. that they have got from the vessels that have visited their ports and exchange them sometimes at 2 and 3 hundred per cent profit, to those tribes who have never been visited by Europeans. By this means they collect all the skins that are collected inland (Sturgis 1978 [1799]: 44).

Trade Practices Another aspect of the traditional Haida economy, and one that is intimately tied to economic relations through the maritime fur-trade period, involves the practice of trade. The trading prowess of the Haida was noted from the earliest historic accounts (Pérez 1989b [1774]: 77). In 37

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Haida. Showing both the iron collars and blue cloth clothing to chief Ucah in Skincuttle Inlet, Ingraham stated that “I showed him one of the garments we had made, with which he seemed pleased, but it did not appear to bear any proportion in value to iron collars, although it was intrinsically of more than ten times the value” (Ingraham 1971 [1791]: 119). The unpredictability in demands for trade goods, and the general inability of the Euro-American traders to control the trajectory of the trade, is highlighted by Ingraham’s return to Haida Gwaii in July of 1792, when “everything seemed changed, and those articles which were most valuable when I was here before were now of little or no consequence” (Ingraham 1971 [1792]: 192-193). In addition to the unpredictability of the demand for trade goods, traders were subject to the expectations and traditional practices of the Haida. One common aspect of the maritime trade among the Haida, for example, involved the practice of giving gifts, and Wike noted that “the familiar American Indian pattern of ‘gift-giving’ was imposed upon the trade to such an extent that in the early years some Captains got their most valuable furs in this manner and it was never absent from trade practices” (1951: 23; cf. Gibson 1988).

Seemingly, no European goods were excluded from entering these traditional lines of trade. Wike, for example, states that “it is most amazing that in an area in which warfare was a major preoccupation no middlemen were reported as keeping firearms away from potential enemies in the opening period of the trade when it might have been possible” (1951: 20). With the onset of the maritime fur trade, the Haida quickly learned the true value of their furs, and were able to play off the various fur traders against each other. Haswell, for example, said the following about the Kaigani Haida near Cloak Bay in April of 1792: “They had many skins of which I purchased few, for they were so exorbitant in their price as to ask two great coats for one skin” (Haswell 1969b [1792]: 321). Howay added in a footnote, that “since Tadents was a popular trading place, the natives, knowing that many ships would come in the course of the season, held out for high prices” (Howay 1969: 321). This was further emphasised several days later by the Haida of Masset Inlet, and Haswell stated that “they would not indeed sell me their skins without an exorbitant price, telling me the Captains Douglass, Kendrick, Barnett, Ingraham, Crowel, and Keanna would be here soon, and they would give them what they had asked” (Haswell 1969b [1792]: 323).

Of more specific interest to the current project, in considering the strong degree of control the Haida held over the trade through the late 18th century and the early decades of the 19th century, is the seeming dependence of the traders on the Haida for basic provisions. In fact, the provisioning of the traders with fish and other foods appears to have been a pan-coastal phenomenon (Gibson 1978). This practice occurred from the earliest times of contact on the coast, even preceding the start of the maritime trade. This is indicated by Riobo, in Bucareli Bay, southeast Alaska, with Artega and Quadra in the summer of 1779, who noted that “we gave gifts to each of them, and they, in turn, gave us fish. The fish was of an ordinary kind, a very common species, yet as we were in great need of fresh food we appreciated it highly” (Riobo 1918 [1779]: 79). The ubiquitous accounts of the reliance of traders on the Haida and other coastal groups for provisions, noted above in the discussion of traditional subsistence resources, highlights this degree of dependence of the Euro-Americans and Europeans on the First Nations. This was clearly not always the case, however, as some traders and ship’s crews were able to procure considerable provisions on their own. In late July and early August of 1795, among the Kaigani of southeast Alaska, Bishop twice mentions obtaining considerable numbers of salmon using a seine net in coastal bays, 450 salmon on one occasion and 300 on the second (Bishop 1967 [1795]: 79, 85). In some cases, however, the traders were clearly dependent on the Haida for fresh food. Ingraham, off of Juan Perez Sound in July of 1792, recorded that: In the afternoon a canoe came off and very seasonably supplied us with plenty of good halibut. While they were alongside, the wind being almost calm, they put over their kelp lines and awkward looking hooks, and in a few minutes they hauled up three fine fish which we bought. We tried in vain

Arriving on northern Graham Island in July of 1791, Ingraham encountered problems of variable Haida demands, stating that he “could not purchase the skins as they asked for them a most exorbitant price. I showed Cow the articles we had for trade which upon the whole he did not seem much enamored with, saying they had plenty of such things which they had got from Captains Douglas, Barnett, etc., who had been there before us and purchased all the skins” (Ingraham 1971 [1791]: 102). Ingraham responded to this glut of the market most ingenuously, by creating new items to meet the desires of the Haida. He stated that on the 12th of July, 1791: In the morning I had the forge set up and set the smith to work to make iron collars of three iron rods twisted together about the size of a man's finger. These I had made from a pattern I saw on a woman's neck alongside. When finished they weighed from five to seven pounds and would purchase three of their best skins in preference to anything we had on board (Ingraham 1971 [1791]: 105). Similar neck rings of copper were sighted by several previous traders to visit the coast, though none prior to Ingraham took it upon themselves to craft similar items from rod iron carried on the ship. By simply re-working items that found little demand in their unworked form, Ingraham was able to create a highly sought-after trade good that facilitated a very successful season. Notably, however, while Ingraham was able to use his ingenuity to increase his returns from the trade, he was still forced to find goods that were of interest to the Haida, and could not dictate the demand for trade goods. Interestingly, the demand for iron collars also highlights the often very different values placed on items by the traders and the 38

Ethnohistoric Data punishments imposed by the European traders (Beresford 1968 [1787]: 220-221; Colnett 2004 [1787]: 130-131; Galois 2004). In other cases, groups of Haida attempted to seize control of whole trading vessels. On the 21st of June, 1795, Boit (1981: 49-50) described an attack on the ship Union by Skoich-eye, Coyah and the Haida of Houston Stewart Channel. Skoitch-eye and 50 to 70 other Haida were killed in this attack. These attacks and skirmishes undoubtedly had an impact on Haida populations. Hoskins, for example, noted that the Kunghit Haida tribe of Houston Stewart Channel “when Captain Gray first visited it in the Washington, in the summer of 1789, was large and powerful ... but they were now dwindled to a few, as we did not see more than fifty different faces while here. this I think must be owing the disturbance between them and Captain Kendrick” (Hoskins 1969 [1791]: 204; cf. Boit 1969 [1791]: 379). Such violent interactions were relatively common (Gibson 1988; Howay 1925), and undoubtedly contributed to Haida population decline.

with our implements —apparently so far superior—from which the Indians exulted in their success, saying our hooks were good for nothing, that we must give them more for the fish they had sold us, etc. (Ingraham 1971 [1792]: 205). This quote is particularly interesting not only for revealing the dependence of the traders on the Haida and other First Nations for food, but also for documenting the efficiency of traditional Haida technologies. Clearly, there was little incentive for the Haida to abandon their traditional technologies and subsistence activities en masse, as many of these approaches and technologies appeared far superior to alternatives offered by the newcomers. Generally, then, much of the early part of the maritime fur trade was highly beneficial to the Haida. The practice of the trade, however, was highly dynamic, and many aspects of the trade would ultimately have very negative impacts on the Haida population as a whole. Speaking of the general trends of the maritime fur traders, Howay stated that: about 1806 or 1808, [a] change occurred: the vessels remained on the coast, but instead of going into winter quarters they continued trading throughout the year, flitting from Indian village to Indian village, through rain and sleet, hail and snow and fog. The manuscript journals of the traders show that they disposed of large quantities of bread, and rice, and molasses. It was found that the winter offered a good market for these foods (Howay 1932: 10; cf. Howay 1938: xiv). This increasing American and European presence on the coast, both in terms of numbers of trading vessels and length of time spent in active trading, increased tensions between the traders and the First Nations and among First Nations. Hostilities thus became more and more common, at the same time that increasing exposure to introduced diseases was taking place.

Hunting, Processing and Trading of Sea Otters: Archaeological Implications Given the economic and ecological importance of sea otters, both during the maritime fur trade and during the preceding centuries, it is useful to consider in some detail references to otters and otter furs in the early historic accounts. Even in 1774, prior to the realization of the value of sea otter furs and the beginning of the fur trade, Pérez noted that among the Haida “all their commerce amounts to giving animal pelts such as seals, sea otters and bears” (1989b [1774]: 77). In the early days of the trade, otter skins were very numerous. In a particularly famous case in July of 1787, Captain George Dixon was able rapidly to trade for large numbers of furs at Cloak Bay on north-western Graham Island. According to Beresford, a sailor on Dixon’s voyage, “in less than half an hour we purchased near 300 [sea otter] skins, of an excellent quality” (Beresford 1968 [1787]: 201). Ultimately, Dixon would collect more than 1,800 sea otter furs from Haida Gwaii in July of 1787, more than half of the roughly 2,500 otter pelts he would collect on the coast in that season (Beresford 1968 [1787]: 229, 303). Similar accounts of the wealth of furs available in Haida Gwaii during the early years of the trade are relatively common. Barnet had similar success at Cloak Bay in April of 1791, with a brisk trade generating roughly 400 skins (Bartlett 1925 [1791]: 300). In fact, Barnet generally was successful throughout Haida Gwaii, also purchasing almost 300 skins at Cumshewa on the 8th and 9th of May, 1791, and roughly 200 skins from the vicinity of Skidegate on the 12th and 13th of that month (Bartlett 1925 [1791]: 302-303). Hoskins, aboard the Columbia in July 1791, also commented on the abundance of furs available at Cumshewa (Hoskins 1969 [1791]: 215). Ingraham, largely through the success of his iron collars described above, was similarly successful in trading at Cumshewa, stating that on the 6th of August 1791 “we traded briskly for furs and in course of the day bought 176 skins, notwithstanding that several vessels had visited this tribe before during the season” (1971

Importantly, the maritime fur trade did not initiate the first inter-group conflicts on the Northwest Coast, and even in the earliest days of coastal contact, prior to the true start of the maritime fur trade, hostilities between natives and Europeans were not uncommon. The first British captain to travel to the Northwest Coast purely for the purposes of trade, James Hanna aboard the Sea Otter, had an altercation with Maquinna and the Nuu-chah-nulth of Nootka Sound in which 20 natives were killed (Gough 1992: 73). As Gough states, “from the outset, violence existed in the maritime trade at Nootka Sound – a fact with which traders and aboriginal people almost always had to deal” (1992: 73). Reasons for these conflicts were varied (Dean 1993; Howay 1925), but many ultimately resulted from attempts by both traders and First Nations to maintain or gain control of the trade or to more cheaply gain new sources of wealth (Howay 1969). Numerous accounts, for example, speak of petty thefts of European items by the Haida and of occasionally violent 39

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods relatively rapidly and easily obtain large numbers of furs. These stockpiles represented otters and other animals that had been hunted and processed over a much larger area, with the furs brought to a central location largely through the power and contacts of the prominent chiefs at these central locations. Importantly, it was the processed furs that were stockpiled, and few otter bones or other parts of the otter carcasses were likely to be transported along the same venues of trade through which the furs were accumulated.

[1791]: 127). The very large stockpiles of sea otter furs found at prominent Haida villages by the earliest traders points to the pre-existence of a trade in otter furs, and a traditional value placed on these furs by the Haida. Certainly, ethnographic descriptions suggest that otter furs were a valuable medium of trade to the Haida prior to contact (Chapter 4). The hunting and processing of furs for trade, then, was not a new innovation brought on by the European maritime fur trade. Rather, European traders tapped into a pre-existing, though likely smallerscale, trade system.

Nor was the abundance of furs consistent at these prominent ports; rather, it was seasonally and annually variable, being quickly consumed as the numbers of traders grew. Colnett and Duncan, visiting Haida Gwaii in August of 1787 and July of 1788 were limited in their luck, likely due to the large numbers of furs acquired by Dixon (Colnett 2004 [1788]: 253). Similarly, when Barnet returned to Cloak Bay at the end of June, 1791, few skins were available: There were few natives here in comparison with the number here when we left it before. Most of them wore red jackets and we knew by this that Captain Douglass had been here. We did not get a single skin here (Bartlett 1925 [1791]: 306). This contrast in productivity is not necessarily surprising, and Barnet’s earlier great success likely resulted from his being on the coast very early in the season, beginning in April of 1791. With the large numbers of boats frequenting the coast by the early 1790s, it is clear that supplies of furs quickly dwindled each year.

Aside from highlighting the general abundance of otter furs available in Haida Gwaii during the early years of the trade, these accounts indicate that the trade within Haida Gwaii was to a large extent focussed on a number of key ports. Hoskins, for example, stated the following about Haida Gwaii based on his visits there in the summer of 1791: The principal tribes for skins reside at the three following villages Tooschcondolth, Masheet or Hancock's River and Tahtence this latter is the most famous if affording more skins than any other tribe we have yet known or heard of and it is here where Captain Gray on his former voyage procured more skins than at every other part of the coast (Hoskins 1969 [1791]: 233). These locations correspond to Cumshewa, Masset Inlet, and Cloak Bay respectively. Cloak Bay, at least, remained a productive trade locality throughout the 18th century, as Sturgis reports that Captain Rowan and the Eliza were able to obtain considerable numbers of furs there in March of 1799 (Sturgis 1978). Howay further stated that Cumshewa was “one of the best places for seaotter skins in the Queen Charlotte Islands” (1969: 214). The prominence attributed to Cloak Bay and Cumshewa as ports where considerable and very productive trade could be carried out is certainly supported by even a cursory review of ethnohistoric accounts from the early years of the trade. In addition, though admittedly to a lesser extent, Houston Stewart Channel, Juan Perez Sound, Skidegate, and Masset Inlet are frequently mentioned as sites of successful trade (Malloy 1998). Notably, the dominance of the Haida otter trade by a few major ports likely had more to do with the power and prestige of the chiefs residing at these locations than it did with any real ecological or supply-based advantages realized by these ports. Rather, more powerful and influential chiefs were able to increase their prestige and power further by acting as middle-men in the trade, accumulating furs from the wide array of smaller villages and family groups under their control and trading these furs en masse (Robinson 1996; Warburton and Scott 1985; Wike 1951). Fisher also noted that “the new wealth brought by the fur trade was not evenly spread among Indian groups. Disparities in wealth, and therefore in power, undoubtedly increased” (1992: 20). The prominent Haida trading localities mentioned in these account, then, were locations where stockpiles of furs could generally be found, and thus where traders could

Another important aspect of this variable abundance is reflected by Bishop, trading along the east coast of Moresby Island in June of 1795, who stated that “we had observed that all the Skins we procured since coming among these Island where newly killed, and by no means equal in general to the winter Furs, but here we learned that a Ship had preceded us and had gone on to the Northward but a little time since” (1967 [1795]: 64). Similarly, in Houston Stewart Channel in July of 1791, Hoskins records the following: [Coyah] said, also, that a Captain Barnard was here four days ago; to whom all their skins were sold; but if we would wait a few days, they would ketch us some ... The next day the pinnace was sent to survey the Sound [Houston Stewart Channel]. several canoes visited us, of whom we purchased five sea otter skins; one of which was just killed, and they skun on board; it was quite a small one (Hoskins 1969 [1791]: 200201). This tendency for the Haida to hunt on demand, or at least to use the promise of such hunting to encourage traders to remain in the vicinity of their villages, was seemingly common (Fleurieu 1969 [1791]: 266-267, 284). Ingraham for example, noted that “a man brought alongside fifteen sea otters which he had just killed” (1971 [1791]: 133), and further indicated that Skidegate men set up a camp in a cove near the Hope’s anchorage 40

Ethnohistoric Data Table 5.3. Estimates of numbers of otter furs taken from the Northwest Coast during select years of the maritime fur trade, and average values of those furs in China, based on historic sources consulted for this overview. Year/Season

Number of Ships

1778 1785 1786 – 1787 1785 – 1787 1787 1787 1791 1799 1800 1800 1801 1802 1804 1804 – 1807 1805 1808 1808 – 1812 1811 1813 – 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1829

1 (Cook) 1 (British-Hanna) 2 (Portlock & Dixon) 6 1 (Barkley) 1 (Meares) 1 (Ingraham) 7 6 15 15 10 6

Numbers of Otters (Approximate) 1500+ 560 2,552 5,033 800 350 11,000 9,800 18,000 14,000 25,000

Average Value in China (Spanish $) $120.00/skin $60.00/skin $20.00/skin $35.00/skin $40.00/skin $15.00/skin $25.00/skin $22.00/skin $21.00/skin $20.00/skin $24.00/skin

59,346 $50.00/skin $30.00/skin

12 47,962 15 15 10 13 22 20

$21.50/skin 6,200 4,300 3,650 4,177 4,500 to 4,800

$30.00/skin $30.00/skin $30.00/skin $30.00/skin $64.00/skin

Source Gough 1992 Gough 1992 Gough 1992 Gough 1992 Gough 1992 Gough 1992 Howay 1920 Sturgis 1978; Swan 1997 Sturgis 1978; Swan 1997 Phelps 1997 Sturgis 1978; Swan 1997 Sturgis 1978; Swan 1997 Howay 1973 Howay 1973 Sturgis 1997 Howay 1973 Howay 1973 Howay 1973 Howay 1973 Howay 1973 Howay 1973 Howay 1973 Howay 1973 Howay 1973

decrease in the average number of furs collected per vessel is evident in the period following the first decade of the 19th century. During the period prior to 1810, the mean number of furs per vessel was roughly 1,300, while the period following 1810 shows a mean of roughly 300 (Table 5.3). Table 5.4 summarises the numbers of American and European (primarily British) ships trading on the coast during the period prior to 1825. Applying the mean numbers of furs calculated above to the numbers of vessels listed in Table 5.4 gives a very rough estimated total of 408,200 furs. It is impossible, given the state of our knowledge of the true numbers of vessels participating in the fur trade or otter furs taken during the fur trade, to assess the accuracy of this estimate, though it seems likely that this represents an underestimate of the total number of furs. Notably, this number does not include furs taken by Russian fur hunters from Alaskan and Californian waters. As indicated in Chapter 3, Kenyon (1969) indicates that 350,000 furs are recorded as taken from Alaskan waters, while Lensink (1960) estimates that the total numbers from Alaskan waters alone was greater than 900,000. Thus, as many as 1.3 million sea otter furs may have been harvested from the Northwest Coast as a whole between first contact and the end of the 19th century. This vast number stands in stark contrast both to Kenyon’s (1969) estimated pre-contact population of 100,000 to 150,000 otters, and to his estimate that 425,000 to 637,500 otters could have been sustainably harvested between 1740 and 1910 at lower rates of consumption. It is hardly surprising, then, that the maritime fur trade ultimately wiped out as much as 99%

in Cumshewa Inlet, and were observed “drying skins in the sun and by fires on the beach” (1971 [1791]: 139). Aside from highlighting the tendency for the Haida to often hunt furs only in direct response to demand during the summer months, these accounts have major implications for archaeological patterns of sea otter remains. Specifically, the trading of freshly skinned furs and the tendency, discussed above, for many Haida to come from more dispersed villages and set up temporary camps near the trade vessels, in combination with Ingraham’s observation of otter skins being expediently processed on the beach near the ship, suggest that many of the sea otters directly hunted by the Haida during the maritime trade period were never transported to the village sites, and thus their bones were never deposited in village middens. Total recorded numbers of otter furs taken from the whole of the Northwest Coast during the years of the maritime fur trade by non-Russian traders are summarised in Table 5.3. Though only slightly greater than 200,000 furs are accounted for by the data in Table 5.3, these data are far from complete. Many trading expeditions left no records of their voyages, nor any indication of the numbers of furs they obtained. Some of the most intensive years of the trade, including the 24 ships on the coast in the years 1788 to 1790 and the 78 ships on the coast in the years 1792 to 1798 (Table 5.4), are not represented in the data synthesized in Table 5.3. Similarly, the data for many of the years that are represented are incomplete. Notably, a significant 41

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Table 5.4. Numbers of European and American trading vessels engaged in the maritime fur trade on the Northwest Coast in the years 1778 through 1825. Based on data synthesized from Gough (1992), Howay (1920, 1973), Phelps (1997), Sturgis (1978), and Swan (1997). Year/Season 1778 1785 1786 1787 1788 1789 1790 1791 1792 1793 1794 1795 1796 1797

Number of Ships 1 (Cook) 1 (British-Hanna) 8 6 8 10 6 12 21 17 12 7 8 6

Year/Season 1798 1799 1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811

Number of Ships 7 10 15 23 18 11 6 9 13 14 12 8 12 15

of the pre-contact otter population (Kenyon 1969; Larson et al. 2002).

Year/Season 1812 1813-1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825

Number of Ships 13 15 10 13 22 20 13 10 10 12 10 10 10

Trade Goods While many aspects of Haida subsistence, including the use of many traditional harvesting tools, did not drastically change during the early years of the maritime fur trade, other aspects of introduced material culture were rapidly adopted. Iron, for example, was witnessed among the Haida at “first contact.” Pérez (1989b [1774]: 78) “noticed among them some things made of iron ... such as instruments for cutting, like half of a bayonet and a piece of a sword.” He further noted that “many of [the Haida women] wear bracelets of iron and copper, and some small rings of the same” (Pérez 1989b [1774]: 7879; cf. Martínez 1989 [1774]). Similar observations were made among the Tlingit of Bucareli Bay (Riobo 1918 [1779]) and elsewhere on the Northwest Coast (Beresford 1968 [1787]: 237). As indicated above, Chirikov’s expedition to SE Alaska in 1741 placed many items, including numerous items of iron, in the hands of the Tlingit (Grinëv 2005: 3). This and subsequent Russian activities in Alaska prior to 1774 may well have been the origin of many of the iron implements observed by the earliest European visitors to Haida Gwaii. Alternatively, prehistoric sources of iron on the Northwest Coast may have included meteoric sources and drift iron from Asia (Acheson 2003; Keddie 1990; Rickard 1939). Many copper items witnessed at contact, on the other hand, may well have been entirely of aboriginal origin, as native sources of copper are known to exist on the Northwest Coast, and traditional copper working has been documented among the Haida (Acheson 2003).

In addition to the fluctuating availability of furs on the coast that resulted from seasonal and long-term overharvesting, traders had to deal with considerable variability in the value of sea otters furs in China (Table 5.3), which were affected by fluctuations in supply and demand. This was well summarised by William Sturgis (1997: 95): The narrative of Cook’s voyage shows the value of a prime skin to have been, at the time of that voyage, $120. In 1802, when the largest collection was made, the average price of large and small skins, at Canton, was only about $20 each. Thus, from the perspective of the traders, it is interesting that from early on in the fur trade, trading endeavours proved far less lucrative than anticipated. Beresford, for example, writing as a sailor on the ships of Captains Dixon and Portlock in 1787 and 1788, indicates that: On the 26th [of January 1788], our principal furs, viz. the 2,552 otter; 434 cub, and 34 fox, were sold ... for 50,000 dollars. ... our Captains had only a mere negative in this business; but finding it impossible to obtain a better price, and it being high time to think of sailing, they were glad to close with this offer, though very far short of what we at one time had reason to expect... (Beresford 1968 [1788]: 303). Rather than encouraging a rethinking of the economic potential of the maritime fur trade, however, these problems simply encouraged a greater emphasis on attaining greater numbers of furs on the coast by increasing the length of time spent trading. And while many trading ventures turned only a very small profit or worse, the number of ships engaged in the trade grew and remained high through the late 18th century and the first decades of the 19th century (Table 5.4).

The pre-contact use of iron by the Haida, however, simply served to fuel their interest in iron items during the earliest years of the maritime trade, and numerous other items were also rapidly adopted during this initial period of the trade. This is revealed in Colnett’s descriptions of the Haida encountered at Rose Harbour in August of 1787: 42

Ethnohistoric Data were last with ... cloathing was most in demand” (1969a [1789]: 97).

Ornaments we found among them were European beads, Iron & Copper. The two last articles as well as the Beads are worn round the neck & wrists & in the ears, some of the Iron & Copper for the Neck Twisted like two Strand Rope & worn as a Coller ... their Iron & Beads Captn. Dixon supplyd them with, but their Copper must be procurd from some distant tribe for I saw not the least sign of any mineral among them (Colnett 2004 [1787]: 135). The copper neck rings described by Colnett were apparently common, or at least prominent enough to be regularly noted, throughout Haida Gwaii. Taylor, for example, similarly noted them among the Haida of the west coast of Graham Island in July of 1788 (Taylor 1788, quoted in Galois 2004: 240). It was these native copper collars or necklaces that would serve as the model for the iron collars manufactured by Ingraham and traded with great success during his 1791 season. Importantly, though iron was highly sought after by the Haida during the early trade period, this newly acquired material was primarily worked into more traditional tools (e.g., Wike 1958): Most of their stone tools are laid aside, & Iron substituted in their Room, & not withstanding the Short time Captn. Dixon had left them, scarce a piece of Iron to be seen, but what was work'd up in their Country Fashion that which was fitted for spears & knives form'd like Bayonets & so near that it remain'd a doubt with us whether it could be their own work. Many little painted round Baskets were offerd for sale wrought of such materials & so close as to contain water, & us'd as a cup to give the Children drink out of (Colnett 2004 [1787]: 138). The reference to baskets offered for trade is particularly interesting, as this suggests an early attempt by the Haida to construct ethnographic trinkets for the trade to supplement their trade in sea otter furs.

By the 1790's, parts of Haida Gwaii were becoming glutted with iron and other previous staples of the fur trade, resulting in a constant shift in the types of goods in demand. The abundance of goods that quickly accumulated on the coast was noted by Fleurieu: “It could not be doubted, from the sight of all the European utensils which this people possess, and the clothes of different sorts some of which were already worn out, that they had a communication for years past with English navigators, and had received from them frequent visits” (Fleurieu 1969 [1791]: 278). At the Haida village of Dadens on Langara Island in August of 1791, Fleurieu witnessed iron pots, kettles, stewpans, frying pans, boilers, tin basins, sheets of copper, bar iron, hatchets, adzes, chisels, plane-irons, daggers, lances, muskets, and powder, alongside numerous traditional items of Haida manufacture (Fleurieu 1969 [1791]: 281-282). Thus, a mere six years after the maritime trade had begun, and only 17 years after first contact in Haida Gwaii, the Haida possessed numerous items of European manufacture or items manufactured locally from European materials. As demand for the early staples of the trade declined, other items became important. Particularly notable in this regard are muskets, rum, and trade foods. During an encounter with chief Skidegate at Cumshewa Inlet in August of 1791, Ingraham states that the chief “made me a present of two tolerable skins for which I gave him a pistol” (1971 [1791]: 130). Kaplanoff, the editor of the published version of Ingraham’s account, suggests in a footnote that “this was apparently the first time that the Haida received firearms” (Kaplanoff, in Ingraham 1971: 130; cf. Wike 1951: 42). This is interesting given that Marchand refused to trade muskets and powder in August of 1791 (Fleurieu 1969 [1791]). Certainly, by 1799 muskets had made their way into circulation, as Sturgis noted that on the 26th of April 1799 in Kaigani territory, “we had a brisk trade for muskets, but they would not even look at our cloth saying [they] had bought enough for this season and would sell us some if we would buy it, they had got such a quantity” (1978 [1799]: 82; cf. Gibson 1988). Similarly, rum and molasses had become major items of trade, or at least were common gifts, by the end of the 18th century (e.g., Gibson 1988; Sturgis 1978 [1799]: 57). Additionally, by the turn of the 19th century, trade foods had become an important part of the trade: Trade was at its lowest ebb – the Indians had obtained such great quantities of cloth, muskets etc. that they held these articles in very little estimation ... Rice, molasses and bread were the only articles in any sort of demand and but few vessels had any to dispose of (Sturgis 1978 [1799]: 120). With the rise in importance of trade foods, we see the first significant impacts of the maritime trade on the traditional subsistence of the Haida.

Despite the initial demands for iron, the demand for trade items, even very early in the trade, was highly variable. On July 2, 1787, near Cloak Bay, Dixon traded for nearly 300 sea otter furs in less than half an hour and, according to Beresford, “[iron] toes were almost the only article we bartered with on this occasion” (1968 [1787]: 201). Three days later on the west coast of Graham Island, Beresford notes that “trade seemed now to have taken a different turn; brass pans, pewter basons, and tin kettles, being the articles most esteemed by these people” (1968 [1787]: 203). Variability in demand for goods was in many cases very local. Haswell highlights the importance of iron on northern Haida Gwaii, where in June of 1789 Captain Gray was able to purchase 200 skins “in a very fue moments for one chizle each” (Haswell 1969a [1789]: 96). Several days later among the Kunghit Haida of Houston Stewart Channel, Haswell notes that “Iron was of far less value with them than with those natives we

43

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods played by Haida women in trade also elicited numerous comments by early observers. Haswell, aboard the Washington under Captain Robert Gray in early June of 1789, noted about the northern Haida of Kiusta that “their Chiefs name is Cuneah and appears to be a very good old Fellow his wife was [part of the trading party] and had vast authority over every person alongside” (Haswell 1969a [1789]: 96). Similar observations were made among the Kunghit Haida (Boit 1969 [1791]: 372; Ingraham 1971 [1791]: 132): the [Kunghit] women in trade, as well as in every thing else ... appeared to govern the men; as no one dare to conclude a bargain without first asking his wife's consent; if he did, the moment he went into his canoe, he was sure to get a beating. This I have seen to be the case more than once, and there is no mercy to be expected without the intercession of some kind of female (Hoskins 1969 [1791]: 208). This pattern was so prevalent that it became common knowledge among the traders. Discussing an attack on the Susan Sturgis in 1852, for example, Gough notes: twenty-five canoes led by Chief Weah came alongside the Susan Sturgis ostensibly to trade in dried fish. However, their faces were blackened, a signal for war. No women were in the canoes, an indication that this was no party of barter because trade was not usually conducted without Haida women (Gough 1982: 134). Seemingly, then, even as late as the mid-19th century Haida women were common, if not universally present, in trading parties.

Haida Women and Gender Roles during the Maritime Fur Trade As indicated in the introduction to this chapter, ethnohistoric and ethnographic accounts of Northwest Coast groups tend to be biased against information relating to women. While aspects of gender and the division of labour are somewhat peripheral to the primary questions being addressed in this research, they are related to the more general issue of Haida economy, and are worthy of some consideration. Early historic accounts of the Haida differ somewhat from those of other Northwest Coast groups in that they contain ubiquitous references to Haida women. I suggest that this is due largely to two major cultural factors that caught the attention of the early traders and explorers. The first of these is the apparently near-universal use of labrets by Haida women. This practice was so foreign to the European traders, that it elicited comment from virtually all observers, and in turn drew their attention to Haida women more generally (e.g., Malloy 2000: xv). The second factor was the active and often dominant role played by Haida women in trade relations with the European traders. This again was outside the realm of the traders’ experience or expectations, and again drew their attention and comment. Fisher (1992: 77) argues that the tendency for many early sources to highlight the role of Native women in the trade may result from early chroniclers exaggerating the difference between the First Nations and themselves. Nevertheless, the seemingly prominent role played by Haida women in trade is interesting, and does not seem out of line with a strongly matrilineal society (Chapter 4). Though the use of labrets was certainly not limited to the Haida at contact, references to the presence of these ornaments are a near universal in early observations of the Haida. At first contact, Pérez noted that Haida women “have a perforation in the middle of the lower lip, and in it they put a piece of painted shell” (1989b [1774]: 79; cf. Martínez 1989 [1774]). At Houston Stewart Channel in July of 1791, Hoskins made the following observations: both men and women came on board the ship without the least reserve: this is the first time since we have been on the coast that women have been aboard; some of them having their under lip perforated, and a piece of oval wood thrust into the incision (Hoskins 1969 [1791]: 200). Similar descriptions are found in virtually all early accounts of the Haida (Bishop 1967 [1795]: 61; Caamano 1938 [1792]: 203-204). Interestingly, Bishop also states that he “saw several young women without [labrets]” (Bishop 1967 [1795]: 61). This slow decline in labret use through the early contact period is also noted by Swan, who indicated that “this practice was formerly universal, but of late years has fallen somewhat into disuse, particularly with those females who have visited Victoria and seen the customs of civilization” (Swan 1876: 4).

In contrast to Gough’s suggestion that by 1852 it was common knowledge that Haida women were an inherent part of Haida trading parties, several early accounts provide conflicting insights. Beresford (1968 [1787]), for example, makes no mention anywhere in his account of the Haida of women holding the ultimate power or taking an active role in the trading. Rather, he indicates that the male Chiefs generally controlled the trade. This may indicate that the primary role of women developed later in the trade, or that this uncommon role for women was simply overlooked by Beresford. Colnett (2004 [1787]) also speaks of a general subjugation of Haida women in southern Haida Gwaii, with no mention of their involvement in trade and rather an indication of their being entirely subject to the wills of the men. It is difficult to assess the true nature of women’s roles in Haida trade practices given the conflicting accounts outlined above. The general preponderance of accounts pointing to a very strong influence of Haida women over trade exchanges, however, suggests that they undoubtedly exercised some level of control over these encounters. Regardless of the true nature of Haida women’s roles in trade activities, these activities, combined with the use of labrets, were significant enough to draw the attention of early observers. As a result of this attention paid to Haida women, early historic accounts also provide considerable

Mirroring the attention payed to the use of labrets by Haida women, the often very active and dominant role 44

Ethnohistoric Data involved the exchange of sea otters and other furs. The appearance of Europeans in Haida waters simply provided a new context in which the Haida could practice their already well developed trade skills. Gibson, for example, stated that “with the coming of Euro-American traders the Indians did not have to initiate an untried activity in order to meet White demands; rather, they had simply to intensify a traditional occupation” (1998: 375). Despite these aspects of persistence in Haida culture and economic practices, however, the ethnohistoric accounts discussed above also document aspects of change which had increasing impacts on the Haida as the trade period progressed.

evidence about other aspects of gender roles. While examining the inside of Haida houses at the village of Dadens on Langara Island in August of 1791, Fleurieu made the following observations about women’s activities: “While, on one side, some women are giving their attention to the children and to the family concerns, some, elsewhere, are drying and smoking fish for the winter stock; and others are busied in making mats, and joining and sewing furs in order to make them into cloaks” (Fleurieu 1969 [1791]: 279). Hoskins provided more extensive observations of women’s roles among the Kunghit Haida in Houston Stewart Channel in July of 1791: Cooking is here the province of the women, in which they are very clean. the women also make their various garments, which are sewed together ... the skins are all cleaned by the women (Hoskins 1969 [1791]: 207). Such descriptions, though not numerous, provide considerable insight into the division of labour among the Haida during the earliest contact period. Zacharias (1999) systematically analysed references to gendered tasks in early documentary sources on the Haida: weaving and sewing clothing and household items from cedar bark, grasses, and animal skins, and preserving fish, shellfish, and plant foods were women's work... Large-scale woodworking such as house building and canoe and pole carving were men's work. ... a distinction can be made between the men's activity of hunting–be it sea otter, bear, sea lion, or halibut–and the mixed-sex or exclusively female activity of gathering–be it birds in a nest or salal berries. Extractive tasks shared between sex and age groups, again not always equally, included gathering shellfish and other intertidal resources, tending fishtraps, catching birds with nets, gathering hemlock sap and spruce roots, and fishing for salmon and rock cod by canoe (Zacharias 1999: 224). These early observations provide a useful counterpoint to ethnographic accounts of the gendered division of labour summarised in Chapter 4.

Evidently, some of the earliest aspects of Haida culture to show evidence of change involved Haida dress and ornamental decorations. Hoskins provided some of the most extensive early descriptions of Haida material culture, based primarily on observations among the Kunghit Haida near Houston Stewart Channel: Their dress is a sort of mantle, made of various skins; such as the sea otter, sable, racoon, and some others, so mutilated as not to be known; also, european cloth and clothing, on which they have sewed in various directions as fancy or fashion suggests buttons, thimbles, china cash, pieces of shells, etcs. ... The ornaments most common are beads of various sorts, particularly the blue glass bead, of which they appear to be fond; buttons, shells, etca. etca. which they wear in large bunches round their necks; though these are peculiar to the females (Hoskins 1969 [1791]: 204205). European clothing in particular was rapidly adopted, and many early accounts speak of the near universal use of traded clothing by the Haida encountered in trade (Fleurieu 1969 [1791]: 295; Ingraham 1971 [1791]: 123124). Given that much of the trade was conducted by chiefs or other high-ranking individuals, these descriptions may represent a limited and biased sample of the Haida population. Nevertheless, such references are common in early accounts, suggesting that European clothing was widely traded during the early years of the maritime trade, and was widely adopted by all the Haida who had access to it. An interesting contrast is provided by Charles Bishop, based on observations among the Haida of Skincuttle Inlet and Juan Perez Sound in June of 1795: The natives are usually clad in a kind of matt made of the Bark of the Birch edged with Strips of the Sea Otter Fur. They have some of them a kind of baskett Hatt which Ties under the chin. The women wear a Short Petticoat made of leather (Bishop 1967 [1795]: 61). Particularly notable is Bishop’s complete lack of mention of European clothing, and his encounter may have been with lower-ranking Haida, or with Haida that had as yet had little contact with the trade.

5.3 Discussion: Changing Haida Culture and Economy as Seen Through Ethnohistoric Sources The effects of European contact and the maritime fur trade on the Haida were varied during the roughly 30 years following contact. As illustrated by the discussions above, the basic structure of the Haida economy and subsistence systems remained relatively stable throughout this period. The majority of the early changes were superficial, affecting aspects of Haida material culture such as clothing and prestige goods, rather than tools functioning in the subsistence or economic realms. In fact, the trade itself was not entirely new, as well established aboriginal trade activities existed prior to contact, and a major component of the traditional trade 45

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods and much of the Northwest Coast. Certainly, estimates of the total numbers of sea otter furs harvested from the coast are far in excess of estimates of pre-contact otter populations or estimates of numbers that could have been sustainably harvested (Kenyon 1969; Larson et al. 2002). The degree to which this represents a shift in Haida hunting practices and the degree to which this intensification of otter hunting should be reflected in Haida archaeological deposits, however, are far from clear. As discussed above, sea otters were a major resource of the Haida in the earliest period of contact, and in pre-contact times (Chapters 6 and 7), and thus only a minor increase in the intensity of otter hunting may have been required to relatively rapidly deplete local populations. Furthermore, from the perspective of archaeological visibility, during the trade season many Haida were apparently moving to temporary camps in the vicinity of the prominent trade anchorages, and many of the furs that were being traded were described as being very fresh, some likely skinned the previous day. These observations suggest that much of the hunting and processing of sea otters occurred while the hunters were stationed away from the permanent village sites, and thus little evidence of this activity may have been preserved in village middens. Similarly, while several of the larger Haida villages became known amongst the traders as productive localities for trade, the large stockpiles of furs that were occasionally available at these locations were not strictly the result of local hunting and processing. Rather, the prominent chiefs that lived at these locations were able, through their wide circle of influence, to collect furs from both other Haida groups and from more distant groups.

Apart from changes in Haida dress, and the incorporation of iron tools and ultimately guns into existing patterns of Haida subsistence and economy, no major impacts are immediately evident through the early decades of the maritime fur-trade period. Fluctuations in demands for trade goods were common as outlined above, but these largely reflected variable access to different trade goods at various parts of the islands, as well as fluctuating fashions in Haida dress and ornamentation. More substantial changes in trade goods, and also in Haida economy, began to appear through the early 19th century. Howay summarised the changes in trade goods over the first ca. 30 years of the maritime fur trade: An examination of the New Hazard’s trading goods discloses the great changes that had come about in the twenty-five years since Hanna ventured from China to try the barter that Captain Cook had discovered. Then it was largely beads and baubles and tawdry trinkets that were used. Ingraham’s great trading medium in 1791 had been iron collars. Gradually articles of real utility were substituted. Now, in 1810, the clearance papers of the New Hazard show her cargo to be ‘musquets, bread, molasses, sugar, India cottons, wearing apparel, hardware, gunpowder, paints, iron, rice, sheetings, shot, tobacco, woolens, woodenware.’ And, of course, the rum was there, though, perhaps, rather as ship’s stores than barter material (Howay 1938: xiii). The inclusion of trade foods, including bread, molasses, sugar, and rice, is particularly notable. By the 1811 and 1812 seasons, traders were disposing of large quantities of these foods, particularly during the winter months (Howay 1938: xiv; cf. Gibson 1988). If the Haida were obtaining significant quantities of trade foods during the winter months, these supplies must have been replacing, or at least supplementing, more traditional winter foods. As outlined in Chapter 4, Haida winter foods included dried and preserved foods such as halibut, salmon, oil, and berries. Notably, winter was also the primary season for the harvest and consumption of shellfish. As noted in Chapter 7, many of the village sites examined for the current project showed little to no shellfish associated with contact-period deposits. Generally, this suggests that introduced trade foods may have replaced shellfish as a winter staple (Brumfiel 1992; Claassen 1991). Regardless of whether shell-fishing was directly affected by the introduction of trade foods, the availability of such foods undoubtedly freed up time once spent on subsistence pursuits. Robinson (1996: 13-14), for example, speaking generally of the Northwest Coast, argues that “instead of following the yearly round of food gathering, many chiefdoms banked on the continuing availability of white food and went off on extended binges of sea otter hunting.”

In addition to the intensification and ultimate extirpation of sea otters, the introduction of domestic plants also had a considerable effect on Haida economy. As early as 1789, Meares noted that at the village of Dadens on Langara Island, evidence of cultivation could be seen (Meares 1967 [1789]: 368-369), though he provides no suggestion as to what was being cultivated. Howay (1920) noted that Captain Gray was the first to introduce potatoes to the Haida, and to show them how to cultivate that plant, and it is possible, if not likely, that it was potatoes that were noted by Meares in 1789 (1967). As noted in Chapter 4, by the ethnographic period, potatoes had become a major staple in the Haida diet (Dawson 1880a; Harrison 1925; Suttles 1987). Potatoes, grown in considerable numbers in Haida Gwaii by the early 19th century, also became a major trade item for the Haida (Acheson 1998: 91). With the decline of sea otter populations in the 1820s, the Haida were forced to adopt new forms of trade to maintain their connection to the market system then well established on the coast and to maintain their ability to purchase trade goods: By about 1820 the fur trade was declining because of a scarcity of sea otters, and the Haida began to offer other products for sale. One of these was potatoes, which by then they were growing in large quantities; another was “curios,” mainly argillite carvings (Duff 1965: 82).

That the intensity of sea otter hunting increased during the maritime fur trade period is unarguable, as it resulted in the ultimate extirpation of sea otters from Haida Gwaii 46

Ethnohistoric Data In addition to hostilities arising between traders and the Haida, the fur trade undoubtedly increased hostilities amongst Haida groups and between the Haida and other coastal peoples. This is exemplified by Ingraham while visiting Skincuttle Inlet in 1791: Ucah said if I would wait he would go and fight for skins which he would bring and sell us, but his success was too precarious to trust to. If the visits of civilized nations among these people have rendered them happier by supplying them with useful employments and necessities of life, it is no doubt likewise the occasion of great disunion and frequent quarrels among them (Ingraham 1971 [1791]: 121). Given that several powerful chiefs ultimately came to control much of the trade in Haida Gwaii and beyond (Robinson 1996), it is certainly likely that these exercised control, perhaps through coercion and violence, over the fur resources of less powerful villages and families within their realms.

Notably, the nature of argillite carvings changed to meet the demands of the Europeans (Gessler and Gessler 1976: 16). The decline in otter populations occurred at different times on different parts of the Northwest Coast. While Acheson noted that the sea otter was already nearing extinction by 1825, for example, he also states that “stocks appear to have been exhausted that much earlier on the southern Queen Charlotte Islands with the trade all but finished by 1800, just thirteen years after it began for the Kunghit” (1998: 100). As a result of these shifting declines in otter populations, the focal point of the maritime trade shifted, with increasing focus paid further north, from Nootka, to Haida Gwaii, to southeast Alaska, and then ultimately towards the mainland tribes (Gibson 1988; Howay 1973: 60-61; Sturgis 1978 [1799]: 88). In March and April of 1799, for example, the Eliza under Captain Rowan, traded primarily among the Tlingit and Kaigani Haida of southeast Alaska (Sturgis 1978 [1799]). Perhaps the most drastic changes among the Haida, initiated during the maritime fur trade but increasing through the post-fur-trade period, involved population declines from introduced diseases and endemic violence. Much of this population decline can be attributed to the introduction of epidemic diseases brought unintentionally by the traders (Boyd 1994). Smallpox was a particularly deadly introduction, and according to Boyd (1994) the first post-contact smallpox epidemic, and perhaps the most widespread, occurred in the late 1770s (cf. Wike 1951: 58). Among the Kaigani Haida in July of 1795, Bishop noted that “they are very numerous, and were much more so before the small Pox which raged here a few years since, and by Kowes account, swept off two thirds of the People, scarcely any that where affected Survived” (1967 [1795]: 83).

Only estimates of Haida population can be found in the existing literature. John Work’s census of the Haida around 1835 to 1840, summarised by Harrison (1925: 5859), estimated the Haida population at that time to be 6,693 (cf. Duff 1965), with an additional 1,700 Haida living in southeast Alaska (Curtis 1916: 115). In 1885, Duff indicates a population of 800 Haida in British Columbia (1965: 39). By the time that Harrison’s book was published in 1925, the Haida population was “between six and seven hundred” (Harrison 1925: 59). The Haida population reported by Duff (1965: 18) for 1963 was 1,224. Clearly, the Haida population was heavily impacted between 1840 and 1885, with only slightly greater than 10% survival over this period. The pre-contact population of the Haida, however, is very hard to assess, and was undoubtedly larger than the 1835 estimates (Duff 1965: 38). Certainly, Bishop’s observations in 1795 quoted above suggest that a smallpox epidemic in the late 18th century heavily affected the Kaigani Haida and may have “swept off two thirds of the People” (1967: 83). Though this early epidemic may not have affected all Haida villages equally, Boyd argues that it was very widespread, and may have represented a “‘pandemic’ over the entire Northwest” (Boyd 1994: 19). Even if the numbers quoted to Bishop are an exaggeration, it is likely that the precontact Haida population was well over 10,000 people. Acheson (1998: 61), by comparison, quotes a variety of estimates of pre-contact Haida population ranging from 7,000 to 14,500. Thus, while the subsistence practices and other aspects of Haida culture and economy may have changed relatively little through the early maritime fur trade period, Haida population experienced severe attrition.

In addition to the introduction of diseases, warfare was common among the Haida during the early fur-trade period, and may have increased during the fur trade as a result of the competition for trade and politics that were associated with the European presence. Evidence for precontact warfare is also common. Fleurieu (1969 [1791]) provided descriptions of Haida forts on Langara and Hippa Islands in August 1791, while Colnett (2004 [1787]: 128) provided the following description of Haida armour at Rose Harbour: “wooden stays & Leather Jackets which are made like a Wagoner's Frock & of thickness sufficient to protect their Bodies from spears & Arrows.” Such armour was evidently present on the coast from pre-contact times, as it was common and widely noted in the earliest accounts (e.g., Riobo 1918 [1779]: 79). While warfare was undoubtedly practised in precontact times, however, violence almost certainly increased during the maritime fur trade. As discussed above, cases of violence between the Haida and the traders were relatively common (Howay 1925) and, in numerous cases, these encounters resulted in the slaughter of 50 or more Haida.

Thus, only relatively minor changes in Haida economy and culture occurred throughout the maritime fur-trade period, and the maritime trade in Haida Gwaii was relatively short-lived. Though limited changes occurred, as documented above, the maritime fur trade was 47

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods primarily characterised by the persistence of traditional Haida culture. In fact, Euro-American traders may have been, in many contexts, dependent on the Haida and other First Nations to supply them with such basic supplies as food, water, and wood (Gibson 1978). More drastic changes to Haida economy and culture, as well as significant declines in Haida population, occurred in the post-maritime fur-trade period, when the numbers of Europeans on the coast was increasing and permanent European settlements were beginning to appear (Fisher 1992).

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CHAPTER 6. PREVIOUS ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH AND CULTURE HISTORY IN HAIDA GWAII 1990, 1993; MacDonald and Inglis 1981), along with limited excavations at the Honna River site (Fladmark 1970a, 1970b; MacDonald and Inglis 1981) and at recent burial sites at Gust Island, Skungo Cave and Tanu (MacDonald and Cybulski 1973; MacDonald and Inglis 1981). In 1969 and 1970, Knut Fladmark carried out small-scale excavations at a number of sites on Graham Island and northern Moresby Island (Figure 6.1), including the sites of Skoglund’s Landing, Richardson Ranch, Lawn Point, Blue Jackets Creek, Skidegate Landing, and Kasta (Fladmark 1970a, 1970b, 1973, 1986a, 1989, 1990). Other work in the 1970s included excavations at Blue Jackets Creek and other sites by Patricia Sutherland in 1972-1974 (Severs 1974a, 1974b, 1974c, 1975), and excavations at Kiusta by Nick Gessler in 1972-1975 (Gessler 1974, 1975; Gessler and Gessler 1976), among other small projects (Hobler 1978b).

Archaeological research in Haida Gwaii has been relatively limited, though the scope of research has increased in recent years through the work of Parks Canada archaeologists and through collaborations between Parks Canada and academic researchers. Sufficient work has been done to facilitate attempts to construct a culture-historical sequence for the islands. Though gaps, some quite large, still exist in this sequence, ongoing and recent work has fleshed out earlier sequences proposed primarily by Fladmark (1979, 1982, 1989; Fladmark et al. 1990). This section provides an overview of archaeological research in Haida Gwaii, and outlines the culture historical sequence as it is currently understood. 6.1 Historical Overview of Archaeological Research in Haida Gwaii

Acheson’s archaeological work in the mid-1980s as part of the Kunghit Haida Culture History Project was the first relatively large-scale multi-year archaeological project to be carried out in southern Haida Gwaii (Acheson 1984, 1995b, 1998; Acheson and Wigen 2002; Acheson and Zacharias 1985; Acheson et al. 1986). This project involved the detailed survey of Kunghit Island and the southern end of Moresby Island (Figure 6.1), as well as test excavations at eighteen sites in the region (Acheson 1998). The results of Acheson’s project are of considerable relevance to the current project, as excavations focussed entirely on very late Holocene and

Fedje and Mathewes (2005b) provide a good recent historical overview of archaeology in Haida Gwaii. This section includes a more limited discussion of Haida archaeology, with particular emphasis on the late Holocene and contact periods as relevant to the current project. The earliest archaeological research in the area dates to the late 19th century, when George Dawson (1880) noted the presence of raised shell-midden sites in northern Haida Gwaii (Fedje and Mathewes 2005b). Mackenzie (1891) provided descriptive notes on artifacts from the Masset area of Graham Island, including both archaeological and ethnographic specimens. Harlan Smith began archaeological work in Haida Gwaii in the early 20th century, and during extensive survey along most of the northern coast of northeastern Graham Island in 1919 he found numerous large shell-midden sites (Anonymous 1919). Specifically, this survey work identified “shell-heaps” at Masset, Delkatla, Yakan point, Tow hill, and Port Clements (Anonymous 1919; see Figure 6.1). Smith also conducted excavations at some of these midden sites, including those at Yakan, Rose spit, and in the vicinity of Tow Hill (Anonymous 1919; Smith 1927; cf. Fedje and Mathewes 2005b). More extensive, systematic, and well reported archaeological work began in the second half of the 20th century (Fedje and Mathewes 2005b). Duff and Kew (1958) conducted limited excavations at SGang gwaay village and other sites on Anthony Island in 1956 (Figure 6.1). Archaeological work in Haida Gwaii in the 1960s and 1970s was dominated by a number of general site surveys (Fedje and Mathewes 2005b; Fladmark 1970a, 1970b; Hobler 1976, 1978a, 1978b; Hobler and Seymour 1975; MacDonald and Inglis 1981). As a result of these surveys, Hobler (1978a) was the first to suggest that intertidal sites and sites on raised beach terraces were associated with changes in sea level. As part of the National Museum of Man’s North Coast Prehistory Project in the late 1960s and 1970s, extensive mapping of major Haida villages was carried out (MacDonald 1983,

Figure 6.1. Map of Haida Gwaii showing the locations of previous archaeological research mentioned in the text.

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Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods themselves have formed the basis of interesting archaeological projects aimed at examining settlement patterns and factors affecting site locations (Acheson 2005; Mackie and Sumpter 2005), while samples collected from many of these sites have contributed to research on the marine reservoir effect on radiocarbon ages of shell and marine bone samples in coastal B.C. (Southon and Fedje 2003). Small-scale excavation projects have also been initiated as impact assessment or mitigation projects at SGang gwaay (Christensen 1996; Fedje and Sumpter 1999b) and elsewhere in Gwaii Haanas as a result of Parks-related development (Fedje and Sumpter 1999a, 1999b, 1999c; Sumpter 1999).

early contact-period deposits. Four of Acheson's excavated sites, including three villages (SGang gwaay, Qayjuu and Xyuu daw) and one habitation cave (FaTs27), included historic period deposits (Acheson 1984, 1998). Acheson’s project also revealed the wealth of environmental data available from late pre contact and early contact-period sites, recovering remains of 165 faunal taxa, representing a wide range of ecological niches (Acheson 1998; Acheson and Wigen 2002; Keen 1990; Orchard and Clark 2005; Wigen 1990). Acheson's work, however, was focussed on settlement patterns (Acheson 1995b, 1998, 2005), and did not explicitly address issues of changing Haida economic adaptation or ecological change during the period of historic contact. Other work in the 1980s included additional survey of parts of southern Haida Gwaii (Neary and Haggarty 1988), work at SGang gwaay in 1981 (Abbott and Keen 1993), excavations at Cohoe Creek by Ham in 1988 (Ham 1990), and a small amount of CRM archaeology (Wilson 1986).

Other recent survey work has examined raised beaches and intertidal contexts in order to locate early and midHolocene occupations (Fedje et al. 1996b, 2005b, 2005d; Mandryk et al. 2001; cf. Acheson 1995a; Hobler 1978a). Modelling the locations of such early sites to facilitate these surveys has relied upon the extensive reconstruction of sea level histories by Fedje (1993, 2003) and colleagues (Fedje et al. 1996a, 2004, 2005a; Fladmark 1990; Josenhans et al. 1995, 1997), as discussed in Chapter 3. The discovery of numerous, well-preserved early Holocene components in raised-beach and intertidal contexts encouraged more extensive test excavations at several such sites to examine the adaptations and material culture of the inhabitants of southern Haida Gwaii in these early times (Fedje and Mathewes 2005b). Specifically, excavations have been conducted in raisedbeach contexts at Richardson Island, Arrow Creek and Lyell Bay (Fedje 2003; Fedje and Christensen 1999; Fedje et al. 1996a, 1996b, 2004, 2005d), and work is continuing at Richardson Island under the direction of Dr. Quentin Mackie of the University of Victoria (Mackie et al. 2005; Smith 2004; Steffen 2006; Steffen and Mackie 2005). Intertidal excavations have been conducted at Kilgii Gwaay (Fedje 2003; Fedje et al. 2001, 2004, 2005c) as well as at Arrow Creek and Echo Bay (Fedje and Christensen 1999). Considerable comparative analysis has been done on the extensive lithic assemblages from these early sites (Magne 1996, 2000, 2004; Smith 2004).

The amount of archaeological research carried out in Haida Gwaii has increased considerably over the past 15 years, largely as a result of both the creation of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site (Gwaii Haanas) and the general proliferation of cultural resource management (CRM) archaeology in British Columbia (Fedje and Mathewes 2005b). CRM work has comprised the majority of the recent archaeological work outside of Gwaii Haanas. Extensive survey in Naden Harbour on northern Graham Island (Figure 6.1) was carried out in the summer of 1999 by archaeologists from Millennia Research Ltd., and was successful in locating numerous new sites, including sites on inland raised beach terraces (Stafford and Christensen 2000). Small scale CRM excavations were carried out at the Gwaii Haanas Visitor Reception and Information Centre in Queen Charlotte City in 1994 (Mackie 1994; Fedje 1995), at Second Beach in 1999 (Christensen et al. 1999), and elsewhere in northern Haida Gwaii (Christensen 1995). More extensive research outside of Gwaii Haanas includes Christensen’s excavations at the raised beach site of Cohoe Creek (Christensen and Stafford 1999, 2005; Wigen and Christensen 2001).

The discovery of numerous early Holocene archaeological sites dating as early as 9,500 BP (Fedje et al. 2005c; Mackie and Sumpter 2005), has also encouraged the search for and testing of earlier deposits. This has become particularly important in light of renewed interest in the possibility of a coastal route for the initial peopling of the Americas (Fedje et al. 2004; Mandryk et al. 2001). This has taken two primary forms. The detailed mapping of sea floors in parts of Hecate Strait, most notably Juan Perez Sound on eastern Moresby Island, has facilitated the identification of paleoshorelines and the modelling of likely locations for now-submerged cultural occupations from earliest Holocene and terminal Pleistocene times (Fedje and Josenhans 2000; Fedje et al. 2005a; Mandryk et al. 2001). Testing of one such location through the use of a clamshell bucket sampler has produced at least one clear lithic flake tool, which would date to roughly 10,000 BP

Within the boundaries of Gwaii Haanas, a considerable amount of recent archaeological work has resulted from the cultural resource management duties of Parks Canada, from the research interests of Parks Canada archaeologists, and from ongoing and increasing collaborations between Parks Canada archaeologists and academic archaeologists (Fedje and Mathewes 2005b). Extensive survey work throughout Gwaii Haanas was carried out in the early to mid 1990s in order to provide a good preliminary catalogue of cultural resources in the National Park (Eldridge et al. 1993; Mackie and Wilson 1994; Mackie and Sumpter 2005; Zacharias and Wanagun 1993). Other, smaller-scale survey work has followed through yearly Parks Canada activities (Fedje and Sumpter 1999a, 1999b, 1999c), and a database of greater than 600 sites is now known for Gwaii Haanas (Mackie and Sumpter 2005). These survey results 50

Previous Archaeological Research and Culture History in Haida Gwaii stranded on raised beach terraces or are submerged beneath modern ocean levels (Fedje et al. 2005a, 2005b; Hobler 1978a). The majority of the evidence for human adaptations during the Kinggi Complex comes from the intertidal Kilgii Gwaay site (Fedje 2003; Fedje et al. 2001, 2004, 2005c) and the raised beach sites of Richardson Island (Fedje 2003; Fedje et al. 2004, 2005d; Steffen 2006; Steffen and Mackie 2005) and Arrow Creek (Fedje et al. 1996a). Very small assemblages from earlier Kinggi Complex sites include bifaces and flakes from K1 Cave and Gaadu Din Cave (Fedje 2005; Fedje and Mathewes 2005b; Pynn 2004), and from a submerged context in Werner Bay (Fedje and Josenhans 2000; Fedje et al. 2005b). Generally, Kinggi Complex assemblages are characterised by relatively abundant bifacial technology and an absence of microblades (Fedje and Mackie 2005). Lithic tools common in these assemblages include “leaf-shaped bifaces, large scrapers, scraperplanes or adzes, large unifaces, cobble choppers, gravers, and spokeshaves” (Fedje and Mackie 2005: 158), apparently manufactured entirely from local materials (Smith 2004). Wet deposits at the Kilgii Gwaay site also preserved a small assemblage of bone and wood artifacts, including awls, points, stakes, and cordage (Fedje and Mackie 2005; Fedje et al. 2001, 2005c). Well preserved shell-midden deposits at Kilgii Gwaay and calcined bone from hearths at Richardson Island point to a well developed maritime economy at this time, with numerous

if it was deposited while the identified paleoshoreline was a coastal site (Fedje and Josenhans 2000; Fedje et al. 2005b). More recently, and encouraged by recent successful paleontological and archaeological research in karst caves in southeast Alaska (Fedje et al. 2004; Heaton 1995; Heaton et al. 1996), Daryl Fedje and colleagues have examined two cave sites in karst deposits in eastern Gwaii Haanas and northwestern Moresby Island (Fedje 2003, 2005; Fedje and Mathewes 2005b; Fedje et al. 2004; Ramsey et al. 2004). These contexts have produced paleontological deposits spanning the period from roughly 14,500 to 10,000 BP, and contain faunas that are in some ways quite different from the known Pleistocene fauna for the area (see Chapter 3; Ramsey et al. 2004; Wigen 2005). These two cave sites have also produced a limited number of stone spearpoints and lithic flakes dating roughly between 11,000 BP and 10,000 BP (Fedje 2005; Fedje and Mathewes 2005b; Pynn 2004). The last decade has also seen a number of excavations at late Holocene and contact period sites in Gwaii Haanas. Sumpter and colleagues have conducted several small excavations at site 922T on Hotspring Island in conjunction with Parks Canada and Council of the Haida Nation development activities at that location (Fedje and Sumpter 1999b, 1999c; Sumpter 1999). More extensive work has been carried out during the archaeological component of the current project, namely the Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project (GHEAP), as described in Chapter 7 (also see Appendix B). 6.2 Haida Gwaii Culture History The wealth of archaeological research conducted in Haida Gwaii in the past two decades has greatly increased our knowledge of the culture history of the area. Prior to this recent work, an early culture-historical sequence was constructed by Fladmark (1979, 1982, 1989; Fladmark et al. 1990; see Figure 6.2). On a general level, Fladmark’s culture-historical sequence has stood the test of time. More recent work has provided some additions and refinements to Fladmark’s sequence. Fedje and Mackie (2005) and Mackie and Acheson (2005) provide the most recent overviews of the culture history of Haida Gwaii (Figure 6.2). The archaeological data from Haida Gwaii can be organized into three major chronological units, namely the Kinggi Complex, the Moresby Tradition, and the Graham Tradition, each of which demarcates a period of significantly differing prehistoric technology in which some degree of local and temporal variability exists (Fedje and Mackie 2005). The Kinggi Complex, first proposed by Fedje and Christensen (1999), encompasses the period prior to roughly 8,900 BP (Fedje and Mackie 2005). This represents a period of rapid sea-level change (see Figure 3.3), during which sea levels rose from approximately 150 metres below modern levels at 12,000 BP to a stillstand of about 15 metres above modern levels by 9,000 BP (Fedje and Mackie 2005). As discussed in Chapter 3, sites of this age, with the exception of those occupied for a short period around 9,400 BP, are either

Figure 6.2. Comparison of current Haida Gwaii culture sequence (after Fedje and Mackie 2005; Mackie and Acheson 2005) to the initial Haida Gwaii sequence proposed by Fladmark (1989; Fladmark et al. 1990) and to a general sequence for the northern Northwest Coast (after Fedje and Mackie 2005; Fladmark 1986b).

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Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods black bear remains (Christensen and Stafford 2005; Wigen and Christensen 2001).

marine fish, birds, and mammals represented (Fedje and Mackie 2005; Fedje et al. 2001, 2005c, 2005d; Steffen 2006; Steffen and Mackie 2005; Wigen 2005). The presence of relatively large numbers of bear remains from Kilgii Gwaay also point to some degree of terrestrial input in Kinggi Complex economies (Fedje and Mackie 2005; Fedje et al. 2001, 2005c; McLaren et al. 2005).

The Graham Tradition, spanning roughly the period from 5,000 BP to European contact, has also been split into early and late components by Fedje and Mackie (2005) and Mackie and Acheson (2005). Generally, the Graham Tradition is associated with the disappearance of microblade technology and the appearance of larger, more common shell middens (Fedje and Mackie 2005). Throughout the Graham Tradition, sea levels were gradually declining (see section 3.2), with sites dating prior to roughly 2,000 BP stranded on raised-beach deposits but at lower elevations than earlier, Moresby Tradition sites. Our understanding of the shift from the early to late Graham Tradition components is clouded by a lack of sites dating to this transitional period (Fedje and Mackie 2005; Mackie and Acheson 2005).

The Moresby Tradition, dating roughly 8,900 BP to 5,000 BP, is separated into early and late components by Fedje and Mackie (2005; cf. Fedje and Christensen 1999). The Early Moresby Tradition, approximately 8,900 BP to 8,000 BP, is characterised by the addition of microblade technology to the Kinggi Complex toolkit, and is essentially a transitional period between the Kinggi Complex and the late or “classic” Moresby Tradition (Fedje and Mackie 2005). Known Early Moresby Tradition assemblages are few, and our knowledge of this period derives primarily from the raised-beach sites of Richardson Island, Arrow Creek and Lyell Bay (Fedje and Christensen 1999; Fedje and Mackie 2005; Fedje et al. 1996a, 1996b, 2005d; cf. Acheson 1995a). Lithic assemblages from this period are similar to those of the Kinggi Complex, including the persistence of bifacial technology, but with the addition of abundant tabular to conical microblade cores and microblades (Fedje and Mackie 2005; cf Acheson 1995a). These assemblages continue to be composed entirely of local materials (Smith 2004). While it has been argued that aspects of the Haida Gwaii microblade technology developed in situ in Haida Gwaii (Magne 2000, 2004; Smith 2004), Fedje and Mackie also state that “the introduction of microblade technology implies significant interaction at a regional scale” (2005: 159). Faunal material from this period is particularly limited, primarily due to a lack of shell deposits and a resulting poor environment for the preservation of bone, but includes a small amount of calcined marine fish and bird bone (Fedje and Mackie 2005; Steffen 2006; Steffen and Mackie 2005).

The Early Graham Tradition incorporates Fladmark’s (1989; Fladmark et al. 1990) Transitional Complex, and dates roughly 5,000 BP to 2,000 BP (Mackie and Acheson 2005). In southern Haida Gwaii, no sites have been confidently assigned to this period (Fedje and Mackie 2005), largely due to the presumed position of such sites on raised beach deposits between ca. 15 m and 5 m above current sea levels. In northern Haida Gwaii, this period is represented by levels at Lawn Point (Fladmark 1970b, 1986a), Cohoe Creek (Christensen and Stafford 2005), Blue Jackets Creek (Severs 1974a, 1974b, 1974c), Tow Hill (Severs 1975), Honna River (Fladmark 1970a, 1970b; MacDonald and Inglis 1981), and Skoglund’s Landing (Fladmark 1970b, 1989). All of these sites are located on raised beach deposits at elevations of 7 to 10 metres above modern sea levels (Fedje and Mackie 2005). Assemblages contain limited amounts of pecked and ground stone, rare bifacial lithics, cobble and cortical spall tools, unifacial tools, and bipolar technology which appears to functionally replace the previous microblade technology (Fedje and Mackie 2005; Mackie and Acheson 2005). Artifact assemblages also contain significant amounts of bone and antler tools, including barbed harpoons, harpoon valves, fishhook shanks, awls, decorative items and miscellaneous other items (Mackie and Acheson 2005). Faunal assemblages from these sites, only reported in any detail for Cohoe Creek (Christensen and Stafford 2005; Wigen and Christensen 2001), contain a combination of marine and terrestrial fauna (Fedje and Mackie 2005).

The Late Moresby Tradition spans the period from 8,000 BP to roughly 5,000 BP (Fedje and Mackie 2005). This period is represented by relatively numerous sites, including Kasta, Lawn Point, Skidegate Landing, Skoglund’s Landing (Fladmark 1970a, 1970b, 1986a, 1989, 1990), and Cohoe Creek (Christensen and Stafford 2005; Ham 1990) in northern Haida Gwaii, and Richardson Island, Lyell Bay, and Arrow Creek in Gwaii Haanas (Fedje and Christensen 1999; Fedje and Mackie 2005; Fedje et al. 1996a, 1996b, 2005d). Late Moresby Tradition sites are characterised by a complete absence of bifacial technology, with assemblages containing numerous microblades and microblade cores, as well as pebble tools, pebble cores, and flakes (Fedje and Mackie 2005). Faunal remains from southern sites are again limited to very small samples of calcined marine fish and bird bone, again resulting from a lack of preserved shell midden, which aids in the preservation of bone (Fedje and Mackie 2005). A more extensive faunal assemblage from the Cohoe Creek site on Graham Island points to a well developed maritime adaptation, though with significant terrestrial input in the form of caribou and

The Late Graham Tradition is well represented by numerous sites dating between ca. 2,000 BP and 200 BP (Fedje and Mackie 2005). This period is particularly well known from the Gwaii Haanas area based on the extensive sampling of Acheson (1998) and the contributions of the current project (Chapter 7; Appendix B; Mackie et al. 2001a; Orchard 2001a). More limited excavations include those at SGang gwaay (Abbott and Keen 1993; Acheson 1984; Christensen 1996; Duff and Kew 1958) and at Hotspring Island (Fedje and Sumpter 1999b, 1999c; Mackie and Acheson 2005; Sumpter 1999) in Gwaii Haanas, as well as work at Second Beach 52

Previous Archaeological Research and Culture History in Haida Gwaii Stages (Ames 2003; Ames and Maschner 1999), dominated by lithic assemblages and little to no preservation of organic remains; and a recent period, termed the Developmental Stage (Fladmark 1982, 1986b) or the Pacific Period (Ames 2003; Ames and Maschner 1999), characterized by the appearance of large shellmidden sites on the coast and the preservation of considerable faunal remains and bone tools. These broad categories fit well with the lithic-dominated Kinggi Complex and Moresby Tradition and the shell-middendominated Graham Tradition from the current Haida Gwaii sequence (Figure 6.2).

(Christensen et al. 1999), Richardson Ranch (Fladmark 1973), and elsewhere on Graham Island (Gessler 1974, 1975; Gessler and Gessler 1976; Hobler 1978b; Mackie 1994). The Late Graham Tradition sees the advent of a specialized woodworking technology, large structures, and many other aspects of the developed Northwest Coast Culture (Fedje and Mackie 2005). A decrease in both ground and flaked stone in these assemblages is balanced by an increase in bone tools, which dominate Late Graham Tradition assemblages (Mackie and Acheson 2005). This may be a regional pattern, however, as our knowledge of the Late Graham Tradition is dominated by Acheson’s (1998) work in the Kunghit region, and sites from this period located further north often have larger quantities of stone tools (Mackie and Acheson 2005). Settlement patterns during this period appear to have been characterised by dispersed settlement with economies based on local resources and limited seasonal mobility (Acheson 1995b, 1998, 2005), which contrasts sharply with the aggregated, seasonal settlement of the contact period (Acheson 2005; Fedje and Mackie 2005). Orchard and Clark (2005; Orchard 2005b; cf. Acheson 1998; Wigen 1990) hint at further possible subdivision of the Graham tradition. A major shift in economic focus appears to have occurred around 1,000 BP, from a previous emphasis on rockfish and other non-seasonal resources to an increased emphasis on salmon (Orchard and Clark 2005). This shift may also relate to the establishment of more substantial structures, as documented by the presence of numerous living-floor deposits associated with the more recent salmondominated levels in several of the Kunghit area sites excavated by Acheson (1998; cf. Wigen 1990).

6.3 Haida Subsistence Economy and Settlement on the Eve of European Contact The overview of our current knowledge of Haida culture history presented above allows us, in consideration of the research questions under consideration in the current project (Chapter 1), to pose the question “What was the nature of the Haida subsistence economy on the eve of European contact and the maritime fur trade?” Acheson’s (1998; cf. Wigen 1990) extensive excavations in southernmost Haida Gwaii produced a wealth of faunal remains that provide the majority of our insight into late Graham Tradition Haida subsistence. These assemblages record a shift in the major focus of Kunghit Haida subsistence during the late pre-contact period, and a resulting shift in the dominant taxa represented in late Graham Tradition faunal assemblages. As suggested by Acheson (1998) and Wigen (1990), and further clarified by Terence Clark and myself (Orchard and Clark 2005), between roughly 1,400 BP and 800 BP, Kunghit Haida subsistence shifted from rockfish-oriented economies to salmon-dominated economies (Orchard and Clark 2005). After 800 BP, and continuing to the time of European contact, all faunal assemblages are dominated by salmon remains. Additionally, these assemblages show a strong secondary focus on a generalized array of resources including a variety of fish, mammal, and bird taxa, as well as the heavy use of California mussel and the minor use of other invertebrate taxa, a pattern that remained relatively consistent throughout the late Graham Tradition (Acheson 1998; Wigen 1990).

Revisiting the early culture-historical sequence of Fladmark (Figure 6.2; Fladmark 1982, 1989; Fladmark et al. 1990), we can assess the impact of the increase in archaeological research in Haida Gwaii in the past two decades. The primary contribution of this recent work has been to extend the culture-historical sequence to earlier times through the clarification of the relevance of intertidal components and the identification of the premicroblade Kinggi Complex (Fedje and Christensen 1999; Fedje and Mackie 2005). Additional work on sites dating to the late Holocene has also clarified the nature of the Graham Tradition, leading to the division of this period into early and late components and to the incorporation of Fladmark’s Transitional Complex into the Early Graham Tradition (Fedje and Mackie 2005; Mackie and Acheson2005). It is also of interest to compare the current Haida Gwaii culture sequence (after Fedje and Mackie 2005; Mackie and Acheson 2005) to general sequences that have been suggested for the northern Northwest Coast. Figure 6.2 provides one such generalized north coast sequence (after Fedje and Mackie 2005; Fladmark 1982, 1986b), though other variations have appeared (Ames 2003; Ames and Maschner 1999; Maschner 1991; Matson and Coupland 1995). On a large scale, these general sequences tend to divide the period of human occupation into two broad time periods: an early period, variably termed the Lithic Stage (Fladmark 1982, 1986b; Maschner 1991) or the Paleoindian and Archaic

By the latest pre-contact period, then, Kunghit Haida subsistence as reflected in archaeological faunal assemblages can be characterised by a strong primary focus on salmon. Other important fish taxa, though in numbers considerably lower than salmon, include rockfish, halibut, and dogfish, with pricklebacks, sablefish, greenling, lingcod, sculpins, and other flatfish making small but relatively consistent contributions (Acheson 1998). Birds and mammals are present in consistently low numbers compared to fish, though alcids, sea otters, harbour seals, and whales generally make substantial contributions to the faunal assemblages (Acheson 1998). The relatively low, though consistent numbers of halibut remains are intriguing given the much greater importance placed on halibut in both the ethnographic and ethnohistoric literatures (Chapters 4 and 5; Orchard and Wigen n.d.). Dawson’s (1880a) 53

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods description of halibut fishing and butchery, quoted in detail in Chapter 4, is of particular interest. Specifically, he noted that when halibut fishermen return to the village sites, “the halibut brought to the shore are handed over by the men to the women, who, squatted on their haunches, rapidly clean the fish, removing the larger bones, head, fins and tail, and then cutting it into long flakes” (Dawson 1880a: 109B-110B). This suggests, as has been proposed by others (Steffen and Mackie 2005; Wigen and Stucki 1988), that halibut were butchered on the beach, with few bones ultimately being transported into the villages to ultimately be deposited in village middens. Furthermore, the relatively soft, porous nature of halibut bones may have been subject to relatively poor preservation (Wigen 1990; Wigen and Stucki 1988), further contributing to their under-representation. Halibut, therefore, likely played a much more significant role in Haida subsistence than suggested by the analysed archaeological faunal assemblages. Nevertheless, Haida subsistence on the eve of contact consisted of a major, if not primary focus on salmon, with halibut also making a significant, but unquantifiable contribution. Related to the discussion of the nature of Haida subsistence in the late pre-contact period, and also important to our pre-contact cultural baseline, is a consideration of Haida settlement patterns. Generally, Acheson (1998, 2005) has characterised Haida settlement in the late pre-contact period as a pattern of small (e.g., 2 to 5 houses), dispersed villages occupied throughout most of the year (Acheson 1998, 2005). While this pattern may have begun to shift in the latest pre-contact period with a process of amalgamation beginning (Acheson 1998, 2005), a large degree of dispersal likely persisted into the early contact period. Acheson (1998), for example, encountered historic-period deposits at both small (FaTr 3 – 2 to 3 houses; 2,700 m2) and large (FbTs 4 – 16+ houses; 10,600 m2) village sites in southern Haida Gwaii, indicating that at least some of the small, dispersed villages were occupied into the contact period. Importantly, our existing knowledge of late pre-contact Haida subsistence and settlement is based on a limited sample from a very regionally limited area. Other late pre-contact samples from elsewhere in Haida Gwaii (Christensen et al. 1999; Sumpter 1999; Wigen 1999) do not provide conflicting views, but these samples are very limited and are not as securely dated as those from Acheson’s (1998) Kunghit project. As such, this view of the nature of Haida subsistence and settlement on the eve of European contact must be treated as a working hypothesis that needs to be tested through ongoing and future research. The archaeological component of the current project, discussed in the following chapter, provides a new perspective and the opportunity to test and clarify this model of late pre-contact Haida subsistence.

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CHAPTER 7. ARCHAEOLOGICAL DATA: THE GWAII HAANAS ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHAEOLOGY PROJECT Gessler 1976), or to CRM work at Hotspring Island (Fedje and Sumpter 1999b, 1999c; Sumpter 1999) and at Second Beach (Christensen et al. 1999), and have resulted in relatively limited or no faunal analysis. As such, Acheson’s (1998) Kunghit project stands as our primary knowledge of late Holocene Haida subsistence and culture, but is problematic because of its limited regional representation and the minimal use of 1/8th-inch screening for faunal recovery. The GHEAP thus expands significantly on the regional diversity of faunal and artifact assemblages available from Haida Gwaii, while also comprising one of the best-sampled and most thoroughly analysed sets of faunal data yet available from the Haida region. A detailed examination of Late Graham Tradition subsistence and culture and a systematic comparison of the GHEAP assemblages to faunal and artifact assemblages from Acheson’s (1998) project and other temporally relevant projects forms one of the major goals of this study.

This chapter presents the results and interpretations of the archaeological component of the current research project, the Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project (GHEAP). Following discussions of the goals of the GHEAP, the methodology employed, and the samples analysed, the results of the four seasons of GHEAP fieldwork and analysis are presented. The following sections include only summary data directly relevant to the current research questions. A complete presentation of GHEAP data is included in a series of five appendices, including a discussion of site assessment and basic site information (Appendix A), a detailed account of excavations at the eight sites tested during the GHEAP (Appendix B), descriptions and classifications of all recovered artifacts (Appendix C), a complete presentation of the raw vertebrate faunal data (Appendix D), and a presentation of the results of bulk-sample analysis and a consideration of invertebrate faunal data (Appendix E). 7.1 Goals of the GHEAP

An understanding of late Holocene Haida culture and subsistence is important for our general knowledge of Haida history, more generally for our knowledge of changing adaptations and cultural development amongst complex hunter-gathering peoples, and as a baseline against which contact period changes in Haida adaptation can be compared. Virtually all scholars interested in furtrade period economic changes, for example, argue that these changes can only be understood in comparison to a well developed picture of indigenous economies prior to the onset of European influence (e.g., Wike 1958). This view is particularly important in that “significant culture change resulting from European contact began prior to the written accounts on which most descriptions of the ‘ethnographic present’ have been based. Insofar as North American ethnologists require a genuinely pre-contact baseline for their studies of acculturation or for crosscultural comparison and generalization, they are going to have to rely on archaeological data” (Trigger 1981: 13). This is further exemplified by Ford: It is my contention that the introduction of...non-native plants and products instigated change in the native subsistence system as soon as contact with Europeans and Asians had taken place. In addition, European settlement patterns, imposed restrictions on the native fishery and native land use, and the reduction of the native population size due to smallpox were impacts of such magnitude that they precipitated changes in the traditional native subsistence system. If that is the case, then the system observed ethnographically is not the same as the system in operation prehistorically (1990: 179-180). Thus, non-ethnographic sources such as early historic accounts and archaeological research must be used to

The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project (GHEAP) was initiated in the summer of 2000 by Dr. Quentin Mackie of the University of Victoria as a pilot project aimed at exploring the potential for examining environmental data from archaeological sites dating to the late pre-contact and early contact periods as a means of providing insight into both the relatively little-known precontact environment of the Gwaii Haanas region, and the ways in which the Haida occupants of the area adapted to European contact and the initiation of the maritime fur trade (Orchard 2001a; Orchard and Mackie 2004). I participated in both the fieldwork and analysis components of the 2000 pilot project and, following the completion of that project, and with the support of Dr. Mackie, I expanded the GHEAP into the current research project. Broadly, the GHEAP has two separate, but closely related goals: to examine changing Haida economic adaptation through the dynamic European contact period; and to contribute to our relatively limited understanding of the nature and variability of late Holocene (late Graham Tradition) Haida culture and economic adaptations. Late Graham Tradition Haida Culture and Economy As discussed in the previous chapter, the late Graham Tradition, the period spanning the last 2000 years of the culture historical sequence for Haida Gwaii, is best represented by Acheson’s (1998) extensive work in southernmost Haida Gwaii (cf. Fedje and Mackie 2005). Several small excavations at SGang gwaay over the past five decades (Abbott and Keen 1993; Acheson 1984; Christensen 1996; Duff and Kew 1958) also represent this southernmost Haida region. Other late Graham Tradition excavations have been restricted to entirely historic components at Richardson Ranch (Fladmark 1973) and at Kiusta (Gessler 1974, 1975; Gessler and 55

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods elucidate pre-contact subsistence practices. In fact, if changes to traditional ways of life were initiated immediately upon contact or even during the protohistoric period as argued by Ford (1990) and others (Chapter 2), then even early historic accounts may misrepresent traditional economies, and archaeology remains the most promising approach for recovering precontact patterns (Trigger 1981). Archaeological Correlates of Contact Period Economic Changes As discussed in detail in previous chapters, the maritime fur trade, at least in the initial period, did not drastically change all aspects of First Nations society, but built on existing aspects of that society. As such, the degree to which cultural and economic changes occurred amongst the Haida during the maritime fur trade is unknown. This volume aims to address this uncertainty by exploring the question “What effect did European contact and the maritime fur trade have on Haida economy?” The degree to which this question can be addressed is, of course, constrained by the nature of the available archaeological and historic data.

Figure 7.1. Ecological and economic relationships resulting from the maritime fur trade and the extirpation of sea otters.

expected that many of the local resources once harvested by First Nations peoples were no longer available, or at least were available in reduced numbers or in new locations. Thus, these environmental changes may have impacted local populations, as many of the faunal taxa that were once commonly harvested by First Nations peoples became scarce in the local environments.

It is useful at this point to set up a model of possible Haida economic changes against which the archaeological data can be compared when addressing the above questions, and to identify possible archaeological correlates of those changes. Certainly, sea otters were hunted prior to European contact. Most sources (Drucker 1965, Robinson 1996), however, seem clear on the fact that the focus on sea otter hunting increased as a result of European demand for furs (see Chapter 5). Also, as outlined in more detail in Chapter 3, the history of European-First Nations contact and the maritime fur trade is closely tied to environmental or ecological factors. Not only did the activities of Europeans and First Nations affect the local environment, but in turn changes in the local environment affected the Europeans and First Nations. The most obvious and significant of these relationships revolves around the ultimate extirpation of sea otters from the coast. The extirpation of sea otters removed a major economic resource from the local environment, making this once-valuable resource unavailable to European fur traders and to First Nations hunters. Furthermore, as described in detail in section 3.3, the importance of sea otters as a keystone species means that their removal had much broader effects on local ecosystems. To briefly reiterate the key relationships (Figure 7.1), one of the key prey species of sea otters is sea urchins. When sea otters are present, urchin populations tend to be limited to small, crevice-dwelling individuals (Lowry and Pearse 1973). When sea otters are removed, urchin populations increase rapidly. Urchins feed on kelp, and growth in urchin populations following the extirpation of sea otters resulted in overgrazing by urchins and the destruction of many of the dense kelp forests that once lined virtually the whole coast. Aside from providing a food source for sea urchins, kelp forests provide critical habitat for numerous other species, including many fish taxa. With a reduction of kelp, it is

Given the economic and ecological scenario outlined above, it is possible to model the effects that contactperiod changes in economy and ecology may have had on Haida lifeways. In particular, Haida subsistence activities may have been altered in ways that should be represented in archaeological faunal assemblages from the region. Similarly, artifact assemblages may have changed to parallel economic changes and to incorporate introduced trade goods. As such, it is possible to identify a number of potential archaeological correlates for the dynamics outlined above: I. Prior to European contact and the start of the maritime fur trade, faunal and artifact assemblages should reflect a period of relative stability, with sea otter present in consistent but relatively low numbers (Acheson 1998). II. During the maritime fur-trade period (ca. 1780 to 1830 AD) numerous changes may be evident in both faunal and artifactual assemblages. In terms of faunal assemblages, an increase in the prevalence of sea otter is expected, due to an increased emphasis on sea otter hunting. Notably, however, the early ethnohistoric sources discussed in Chapter 5 revealed that much of the increase in hunting and processing of sea otters may have occurred away from the permanent village sites, and thus the abundance of otter bones in village middens may not show a strong increase. 56

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project abalone. The post-fur-trade period also saw the bulk of the effects of introduced diseases and the results of the amalgamation of small, dispersed Haida villages into large, multi-lineage villages, and thus many of the smaller village sites that were occupied during the maritime furtrade period were abandoned prior to or during the post-fur-trade period, and may be characterised by few, if any, post-furtrade deposits.

Nevertheless, a decline in sea otter populations from over-hunting may also have led to an increasing prevalence of sea urchins and abalone as one of their major predators was removed from the ecosystem. This was a gradual process, however, of otter decline causing slowly decreasing predation pressure on urchins and abalone. Additionally, sea urchins appear to be slow-growing, long-lived species (Ebert and Southon 2003). As such, the abundance of sea urchins and abalone is expected to have remained relatively low throughout much of this period. Ultimately, an increase in sea urchins towards the end of the fur-trade period is expected to have resulted in a decreasing prevalence of kelp and a corresponding decrease in kelpassociated taxa, such as species of greenling, rockfish, and herring. In terms of artifacts, the increased focus on sea otter hunting during this period may have resulted in an increased prevalence of sea otter hunting technology in archaeological assemblages from the period. This does not involve the introduction of new technologies, however, and may have only represented a minor change in artifact frequencies. More noticeably, this period should also see the introduction of early trade goods, such as the ubiquitous blue glass trade beads commonly recovered from early contact period sites on the Northwest Coast.

These postulated archaeological correlates provide a general distinction between the three time periods outlined above. The most important factor involves the expected changes in the prevalence of sea otter and ecologically related taxa in faunal assemblages. Given the expected, and previously observed, presence of tradeperiod artifacts in early contact period sites, the distinction between deposits of the pre-contact and furtrade periods is likely the most easily recognized. Less confidence can be assigned to the distinction between the fur-trade and post-fur-trade periods and, given the changes in settlement pattern that occurred during this late period, many of the sites sampled during the GHEAP are likely to have been abandoned prior to the post-furtrade period. Furthermore, it is important to consider that these changes in economic focus were not necessarily even across all villages. Trade was largely focussed in a few areas and primarily with the chiefs in those areas (Fisher 1992; Robinson 1996). This may have led to a situation in which some groups specialised in trade while others specialised in hunting (Fisher 1992). Furthermore, the degree to which economic changes would have been initiated by the ecological changes resulting from the extirpation of sea otters is closely tied to the nature of the pre-fur-trade Haida economy. Based on previous archaeological research, the Haida subsistence economy on the eve of the fur trade was largely focussed on salmon and halibut (Chapter 6). As these taxa would have been largely unaffected by the ecological changes surrounding sea otter extirpation, the primary focus of Haida subsistence may have remained unchanged through the maritime fur-trade period.

III. The post-maritime fur trade period (ca. 1830 to 1890) spans the time from the end of the maritime fur trade (ca. 1830) to the complete amalgamation of the southern Haida in the northern village of Skidegate (ca. 1890). This period represents the culmination of the ecological changes initiated during the maritime fur trade, and subsequently would have required another shift in Haida economic adaptation. Sea otters were almost completely extirpated from the Queen Charlottes by ca. 1830 AD, and have not significantly re-colonized the islands to the present day. Similarly, the sea urchin barrens and scarcity of kelp forests that likely peaked following the extirpation of sea otters would have continued through the post-fur trade period, and are still evident in Gwaii Haanas today (Sloan and Bartier 2000; Sloan et al. 2001). As such, faunal assemblages from deposits post-dating ca. 1830 should be characterised by a complete absence of sea otter remains. In addition, these assemblages may show decreased amounts of rockfish and greenling, and potentially increased amounts of sea urchin and

7.2 Methodology and Sample The GHEAP was set up as a program of small-scale excavation at a regional sample of sites throughout southern and eastern Gwaii Haanas. Given the hypothesis that late pre-contact Haida adaptation was characterised by numerous small, dispersed villages with locally focussed economies (Acheson 1998), a regional sample facilitates the identification of locally variable changes in adaptation as a response to contact. Such an approach allows for substantial faunal samples to be gathered from a set of sites that represent varied environmental contexts, and thus controls for variability based on site location. Other projects on the northern Northwest Coast have used such samples to generate good pictures of regional variability in economic adaptations and temporal changes in such adaptations (Acheson 1998; Cannon 2000a, 57

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods sampling. Each excavated site was tested through one to four 1m by 1m or 50cm by 50cm excavation units, with units placed judgmentally based on soil probe and auger sampling to locate shell midden deposits. In addition, units were located in different site areas to attempt to account for variation in the distribution of material remains. Within units, excavation proceeded in 10cm arbitrary levels within natural layers. All excavations were relatively shallow, serving to recover samples from possible contact period deposits and from the underlying late pre-contact deposits. In all cases, excavations spanned a depth of less than one metre. All excavated material was wet-screened through nested 1/4- and 1/8inch screens, and all vertebrate faunal remains, artifacts, and a representative selection of invertebrate remains were collected. The high density of small vertebrate remains in some 1/8-inch samples precluded the sorting of such samples in the field. In these cases, 1/8-inch matrices were washed and bagged in the field, and a sample of these was sorted during laboratory analysis (Appendix D). Upon completion of excavation of each unit, a bulk sample of roughly 1 litre or larger was collected from each excavated natural stratigraphic layer. Strategies for the collection of bulk samples varied across the field seasons. In 2000 and 2002, a 10cm by 10cm or 15cm by 15cm column sample was collected from each excavation unit following excavation. In the 2003 and 2004 seasons, bulk samples were collected as 1 litre samples from each natural stratigraphic layer. Bulk samples facilitated the recovery of microfossil remains that may be missed in the coarser wet-screening as well as the quantification of the relative abundances of invertebrate remains (Appendix E). Such bulk samples have become an ubiquitous component of Northwest Coast archaeological sampling, as the value of such samples for recovering faunal remains and other environmental signatures has long been demonstrated (Cannon 1991; Casteel 1976a, 1976b). A collaborative project with Natasha Lyons of the University of Calgary has also been initiated in order to examine paleoethnobotanical remains preserved in the bulk samples collected from several of the sites excavated during the GHEAP (Lyons and Orchard 2007; Orchard and Lyons 2004).

2000b; Orchard and Clark 2005). Additionally, the GHEAP region, while adjacent to Acheson’s (1998) study area, expands the areas of Haida Gwaii subject to such extensive regional sampling, and thus facilitates broad, regional examinations of patterns and variability within late Holocene Haida culture and economy. Identification and selection of a regional sample of sites to be tested followed a series of steps. Data on the characteristics of previously recorded sites in the Gwaii Haanas area were available through the results of Parks Canada archaeological survey and management work (Eldridge et al. 1993; Fedje and Sumpter 1999a, 1999b, 1999c; Mackie and Wilson 1994; Zacharias and Wanagun 1993), which has led to the creation of a database of more than 600 sites within the Gwaii Haanas area (Mackie and Sumpter 2005). From this database, sites were chosen for study based on the following factors: (1) presence of preserved shell-midden deposits; (2) classification as village sites based on the presence of preserved house features, large size of midden deposits, or ethnographic village description; and (3) likely occupation during the late pre-contact and early contact periods as determined from ethnohistoric accounts and the results of previous field testing. Additionally, sensitivity of sites as related to Parks Canada's mandate to manage cultural resources was considered, and some sites were briefly visited and assessed to aid in Parks Canada’s monitoring of threatened sites, while other sites were not included to avoid culturally sensitive areas. The presence of shellmidden deposits was particularly important as such deposits are necessary for the preservation of faunal remains in the otherwise acidic soils of the region. Though shell-midden sites on the Northwest Coast are typically assumed to represent to some degree “general activity” (Mackie 2003), there is, nevertheless, the potential for some smaller middens to represent more specialized activity with focus on the harvest of limited resources (Banahan 2005). The focus on village sites eliminates the potential for inter-site variability resulting from differences in site function. The project also incorporated a site visit and assessment component. This arose as a result of problems encountered during the 2000 pilot project relating to lack of shell midden, and thus lack of preserved faunal remains, at sites that were described in the written site record as containing shellmidden deposits. Preliminary site assessments during the 2002 through 2004 field seasons involved the surface inspection of prospective sites as well as limited soil probing to assess the presence and extent of subsurface deposits. Based on the results of these initial site assessments in combination with other data available for each site relating to site ages and functions, a sub-sample of sites suitable for small-scale excavation was made during each season. Of particular importance, as indicated above, was the verified presence of substantial shellmidden deposits. Sites were also selected for excavation, on a judgmental basis, in order to sample a wide variety of site locations and ecological niches.

Artifacts were analysed with particular emphasis placed on temporally significant items (e.g., fur-trade items) that aid in establishing the temporal context of the sites, and on functional tools that may provide insight into Haida subsistence practices (Appendix C). The potential temporal specificity of contact-period European goods can aid in the dating of site occupations (but see Hobler 1986). A variety of manuals published by Parks Canada are of considerable use in the analysis of contact-period artifacts, including volumes on the identification and classification of glass trade beads (Karklins 1985; Kidd and Kidd 1970; Kidd 1979), ceramics (Sussman 1979), and glass (Jones and Sullivan 1989; Jones 1986). Additionally, a consideration of contact-period artifacts recovered from similar contexts in Haida Gwaii and on the Northwest Coast as a whole provides a useful set of comparative material for the interpretation of artifact

Over the course of four field seasons, 24 sites were assessed, with 8 sites subjected to more detailed 58

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project assemblages recovered from the current (Fladmark 1973; Folan and Dewhirst 1981).

preservation of vertebrate remains in Northwest Coast contexts, and the importance of such preserved faunal remains to the current research project, field methodology was modified for the 2002 through 2004 seasons to include an initial site visit and assessment component. For each of these field seasons, a set of sites with high potential to contribute to the current project were selected from the existing site database following the criteria outlined in section 7.2 above. Additionally, these sites were selected for each field season on the basis of their locations within a sub-region of the overall study area. This facilitated the assessment and excavation of sites in each season while working from a single, centrallylocated base camp (Figure 7.2). Sub-regions for each of the field seasons included the Lyell Island and Darwin Sound areas in 2002, the Juan Perez Sound and Burnaby Island areas in 2003, and the southern Moresby Island and Kunghit Island areas in 2004 (Figure 7.2).

project

Vertebrate faunal remains were identified using comparative collections housed at the University of Toronto and the University of Victoria. Identified vertebrate remains were quantified as per previous work (Acheson 1998; Keen 1990; Mackie et al. 2001a; Wigen 1990) to facilitate comparison. Specifically, vertebrate taxa were coarsely quantified by number of identified specimens (NISP) and invertebrate taxa were quantified by total weight of recovered shell. These methods of quantification allow direct comparison with previously analysed samples from the study area, and thus facilitate the incorporation of this previous work into the current project. In addition, minimum numbers of individuals (MNI) were calculated for vertebrate remains using the basic method of White (1953). This approach further increases the general comparability of the generated results with those of other projects, and will contribute to the interpretation and analysis of changing Haida subsistence practices. More specifically, both NISP and MNI values, though not entirely unproblematic (Grayson 1984; Orchard 2003a), have been used to assess the relative frequencies of the various recovered faunal taxa, thus providing a general comparison of the relative contributions of each taxon to the diet of the occupants of the archaeological site under analysis. Calculating such measures for stratigraphically distinct deposits within sites, and for assemblages from various sites throughout the study area, can provide insight into temporal changes in the relative frequencies of the recovered taxa. For the current project, NISP values were used as the primary data for analysis and calculation of relative frequencies. MNI values are presented, for comparative purposes, in Appendix D.

Ultimately, a total of 24 sites were visited and assessed during the GHEAP (Table 7.1). Of this initial sample, 8 sites were subsequently tested through small-scale excavation as described below and in Appendix B. Classification of site types, surface areas and elevations of all assessed sites are included in Table 1. This table also presents the environmental setting or exposure of these sites. This tripartite classification follows that presented by Acheson (1998, 2005), which was itself a simplification of the classification of the wave exposure of the shorelines of Gwaii Haanas presented by Harper et al. (1994). Acheson’s three categories of site setting, including Protected, Semi-Protected and Exposed, were defined as follows:

In addition to the data gathered during the GHEAP, environmental data previously collected from the Kunghit region (Acheson 1998; Keen 1990; Wigen 1990) are of relevance to the questions being addressed in the current project. As outlined in Chapter 6, the Kunghit Haida archaeological project recovered substantial faunal remains from small scale excavation at 18 sites in the southern Gwaii Haanas area, two of which were village sites containing early contact-period deposits (Acheson 1998). These faunal samples have been analysed in some detail (Keen 1990; Wigen 1990) and, though the results were published by Acheson in his project monograph (1998), they have not been examined from the perspective of reconstructing late pre-contact to contactperiod changes in Haida subsistence adaptation. Relevant results from Acheson’s (1998) work will be discussed below. 7.3 Site Assessments As indicated above, the results of the 2000 pilot project suggested that the paper records from previous site visits were in some cases unreliable, particularly in reference to the presence of substantial shell midden deposits. Given the critical importance of shell midden for the

Figure 7.2. Gwaii Haanas study area with locations of all sites assessed during the four GHEAP field seasons.

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Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Table 7.1. Summary data for all sites assessed during the four GHEAP seasons. Excavated sites are in bold. Site types are SM=shell midden; HD=house depression; V=village; I=Historic/Industrial (Appendix A). Site 610T 618T 699T 717T 740T 763T 767T 781T 783T 785T 789T 807T 923T 924T 1000T 1001T 1013T 1134T 1140T 1165T 1193T 1200T 1221T 1445T

Type SM, HD, V SM SM, HD, V SM, HD, V SM, HD, V, I SM, HD, V SM, HD, V SM, HD, V SM SM, HD, V SM, HD, V SM, HD, V, I SM, HD, V SM, HD, V, I SM SM SM SM, HD, V SM SM SM SM SM, HD, V SM, V

2

Size (m ) 2,200 825 7,500 3,000 8,800 1,200 8,400 4,125 1,056 5,425 3,000 1,812 3,300 33,600 1,600 3,600 2,375 2,125 520 1,170 95 210 1,600 5,000

Elevation (m) 3.0 to 4.0 0.5 2.5 to 3.5 2.0 1.0 to 7.0 0.0 to 2.0 -1.0 to 4.0 1.0 to 3.0 1.75 0.55 to 1.75 0.5 to 2.0 0.25 to 1.0 1.0 -1.5 to 5.0 3.0 to 4.0 0.5 to 2.0 1.0 to 4.0 2.5 0.0 to 1.0 1.0 to 2.0 3.0 to 4.0 5.0 0.5 to 1.25 1.0 to 9.0

Setting exposed protected exposed semi-protected exposed semi-protected protected semi-protected semi-protected protected semi-protected protected semi-protected protected protected protected semi-protected protected protected protected protected protected exposed exposed

Comments substantial, deep midden deposits very sparse, patchy shell midden substantial, deep shell midden dense but patchy shell midden substantial, deep shell midden dense but patchy shell midden substantial, deep shell midden dense but patchy shell midden very sparse, patchy shell midden dense but patchy shell midden very sparse, patchy shell midden very sparse, patchy shell midden very sparse, patchy shell midden substantial, deep shell midden dense but patchy shell midden very sparse, patchy shell midden dense but patchy shell midden very sparse, patchy shell midden dense but highly eroded midden very sparse, patchy shell midden dense, thick midden very sparse, patchy shell midden very sparse, patchy shell midden midden deposits not assessed

otherwise extremely exposed shoreline, the macro-setting has the greatest influence on the kinds and amount of resources available” (Acheson 2005: 310). Aside from reflecting the variability in the macro-environmental settings of the sites assessed and excavated during the GHEAP, these categories of site exposure have been linked to settlement patterns by previous researchers (Acheson 2005; Mackie and Sumpter 2005), and are also influential in structuring the faunal resource base of village sites in the region as discussed below.

Protected waters occur only within the upper reaches of the major inlets and deeper bays ... Areas marginally affected by heavy seas, such as at the entrances to these bodies of water, and some stretches of coastline in the lee of smaller islands, are classed as semi-protected. Exposed coasts are those areas subject to incessant or frequent heavy seas and include linear stretches of shoreline, smaller islands, and points or bays (Acheson 1998: 129; emphasis added). Notably, Acheson’s categorization of sites based on this system reflects the “macro-setting” of individual sites, rather than their immediate environment, because “while sites occur within small, enclosed bays or small archipelagos, which afford some protection from an

An interesting observation from the initial survey work involves the finding that shell midden was generally limited in many late-Holocene and contact-period sites in Gwaii Haanas. Others have also noted that recent village sites in Haida Gwaii often tend to contain very shallow, if any, shell deposits (Fladmark 1989; Mackie and Wilson

Table 7.2. Summary data for sites excavated during the GHEAP. Site 699T 717T 740T 781T 785T 923T 924T* 1134T

Ethnographic Name (after Acheson 2005) Qayjuu `llnagaay 7aydi `llnagaay Kaidsu Xuud tsixwaas ‘llnagaay Rayran kun ‘llnagaay Q’iid ‘llnagaay Huulaagwaans ‘llnagaay (?)

Houses

Setting

16+ 1? 1+ 1+ 4+ 1? 4+ 3?

exposed semi-protected exposed semi-protected protected semi-protected protected protected

Excavation Year 2004 2003 2000 2003 2002 2000 2003 2000

Excavated 2 Area (m ) 3.00 1.00 2.00 3.25 2.00 2.00 2.00 4.00

Excavated 3 Volume (m ) 1.10 0.48 0.27 1.45 1.68 1.39 0.83 1.58

Number of Artifacts 13 15** 0 16 16 9 6 24

*For site 924T, only excavation units 2 and 3, associated with the traditional Haida occupation of the site, are included in these data (see Appendix B). **The relatively high number of artifacts produced from the single excavation unit at site 717T includes 10 historic items likely associated with recent, 20th century use of the site (see Appendix C).

60

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project artifacts is associated with upper, shell-free or limitedshell layers. Given the very substantial, dense shellmidden deposits evident in the earlier prehistoric deposits from southern Haida Gwaii (Table 7.1; Acheson 1998), these patterns suggest that shellfish as an economic resource was declining in the late pre-contact or the early contact periods, or both. 7.4 Overview of Site Excavations A total of eight sites were excavated during the four field seasons of the GHEAP. With the exception of the 2000 pilot project, excavated sites were all chosen based on the results of the preliminary site assessment work carried out at the beginning of each field season. The eight sites selected for excavation represent a broad regional sample spanning the eastern half of Gwaii Haanas and representing a wide range of ecological settings (Figure 7.3; Table 7.2). Ecological setting, as discussed above, followed the tripartite system of Acheson (1998, 2005), which was based on site exposure (Table 7.2; Appendix A). Though this creates very coarse categories of exposed, semi-protected, and protected sites, these differences are reflected in faunal assemblages as discussed below. Invertebrate remains in particular are closely tied to the nature of the immediate environment surrounding site locations.

Figure 7.3. Map of Gwaii Haanas showing the locations of all excavated GHEAP sites.

1994), and further north, Maschner (1991) reported a similar pattern for sites in Tebenkof Bay. In the GHEAP context, many of the assessed sites contained only very sparse, patchy shell-midden deposits (Table 7.1). A consideration of the general data presented in Table 7.1 suggests that those sites characterised by very limited shell midden tend to be sites at very low elevations. Given the sea level history of the region (Chapter 3), these sites must have been occupied during the latest Holocene times. Additionally, in several of the excavated sites (Appendix B), the recovery of contact-period

Functionally, the eight excavated sites have all been classified as villages, based on the presence of house features or known ethnographic village names (Table 7.2; Figures 7.4 to 7.11). The number of house features present at each site varies greatly, and the values presented in Table 7.2 should all be considered minimum numbers. All of these sites span relatively large areas (Table 7.1; Figures 7.4 to 7.11), and they may all have contained additional houses during site occupations.

Figure 7.4. Site 699T plan map.

61

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods

Figure 7.6. Site 740T plan map.

Figure 7.5. Site 717T plan map.

House depression features in late pre-contact and contactperiod villages in Haida Gwaii are often very shallow and poorly defined, possibly relating to the apparent decline in shellfish use in this late period, as discussed in the

previous section. The wide variance in numbers of houses reflects the fact that these sites all date to the late precontact and early contact periods, a time when Haida settlement was shifting from small, dispersed villages to larger, centralized, multi-lineage villages (Acheson 1998, 2005). The large site of Qayjuu ‘llnagaay (699T; Figure 7.4), for example, is known ethnographically to have been one of the last sites occupied in southern Haida Gwaii prior to the amalgamation of the Kunghit Haida, first at SGang gwaay and later at more northern villages (Acheson 1998; Swanton 1905a). The extent of excavations at these sites varied from a single 1m by 1m unit at site 717T (Figure 7.5) to four 1m by 1m units at site 1134T (Figure 7.11; Table 7.2). Excavations were shallow, and thus the total excavated volume for all sites was less than 9 cubic metres from a total surface area of 19.25 square metres, with excavated volumes for individual sites ranging from 0.27 to 1.68 cubic metres (Table 7.2). Detailed discussions of the context and excavations at each site are presented in Appendix B, with the analysis of artifacts and faunal remains presented in Appendices C, D, and E. The following sections of this chapter are summaries of these data, with particular emphasis on data relevant to addressing questions of changing Haida subsistence practices during the early contact period. 7.5 Stratigraphy and Features Stratigraphic profiles encountered in the 20 excavation units excavated during GHEAP field activities (Table 7.2) were generally very simple, characterised by a few,

Figure 7.7. Site 781T plan map.

62

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project

Figure 7.8. Site 785T plan map.

Figure 7.9. Site 923T plan map.

essentially horizontal cultural layers containing varying amounts of shellfish beneath a typically thin layer of humic material (Appendix B). Similarly, features encountered during these excavations were typically limited, most commonly associated with architectural aspects of houses within which the units were located. Detailed descriptions of the stratigraphic profiles of all excavation units, as well as discussions of all features, are included in Appendix B. This section provides a brief, general overview of these aspects of the GHEAP excavations.

The composition of cultural layers varied from shell-free black soil to dense crushed and whole shell matrices (Appendix E). The number of layers encountered in each unit was variable, though this was heavily influenced by the depth of excavations with many units not excavated to

The stratigraphic profile for excavation unit 43 at site 699T (Figure 7.12) provides a good example of the general stratigraphic characteristics encountered in other excavation units in sites excavated during the GHEAP. With the isolated exception of the single unit excavated at site 717T, cultural layers in all units were overlain by an active humus layer of variable thickness. At 717T the apparently mixed nature of the uppermost stratigraphic layer suggests that any humus that once existed in the vicinity of the excavation unit was destroyed by historic activities at the site, while ongoing use of the site is apparently limiting the current build-up of humic material. Underlying the active humus at many sites was a layer of shell-free black soil. The formation of this black soil may be the end product of humic deterioration, though the recovery of artifacts from the uppermost black soil layers in some units point to a cultural component as well.

3 As Acheson (1998) previously excavated three units at site 699T (FbTs-4), the three GHEAP units were labelled 4 through 6 (see Appendix B).

Figure 7.10. Site 924T plan map.

63

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods sterile deposits. The simplest stratigraphic profiles were encountered in units 3 and 5 at site 1134T. These units were both composed of thin shell-midden layers (15 to 25 cm) underlying a thin humic layer and bottoming on sterile deposits. The most complicated profiles were those encountered in units 785T2A and 924T3A, largely as a result of the location of these units in the edges of house depressions and the presence of large numbers of features (Figure 7.13; see Figures 7.8 and 7.10). Other stratigraphic profiles were of intermediate complexity, containing between 1 and 5 major cultural strata. Only in rare cases was little to no shell encountered in any of the excavation units. Most notable in this regard were units at sites 923T and 1134T from the 2000 field season. Both excavation units at 923T were characterized by only very isolated fragments of crushed shell and by very rare small pockets of denser shell remains. The matrices in both units were dominated by beach cobbles and beach gravels with little to none of the black soil that formed the consistent background material in the majority of the cultural layers encountered in other units (Appendix E). The recovery of artifacts from throughout these seemingly sterile deposits points to at least some degree of cultural deposition. Completely shell-free deposits were also encountered in excavation units 2 and 4 at site 1134T. The relatively un-stratified matrices encountered in these units were characterized by somewhat variable proportions of black, greasy soil and gravel, and may have been largely non-cultural. The only definitive cultural evidence from these units involved the 11 historic artifacts recovered from the transitional zone between the active humus layer and the underlying black soil layer. This suggests that the occupation was relatively brief, with little deposition at least in this area of the site. The identification of a small pit feature near the bottom of unit 4 is the only evidence of a possible cultural influence in the deeper deposits of these two units, though the origin of this feature is unclear.

Figure 7.11. Site 1134T plan map.

Features encountered during GHEAP excavations, though generally rare, are worthy of brief consideration. Table 7.3 provides a summary of all the features documented during the project. The majority of these features are typical of features associated with shell middens and houses elsewhere on the Northwest Coast. Several features, for example, are small pockets or lenses of food and hearth refuse, likely representing small disposal events. Several other features are associated with architectural and spatial aspects of houses. Excavations in the rear of visible house depressions at sites 781T and 924T produced features (781T3A-F1 and 924T3A-F1) typical of bench midden or the slumping of rear midden ridges upon the deterioration of houses (Figures 7.7, 7.10, and 7.13). The recovery of several complete artifacts from this midden deposit at site 924T, including a complete dentalium bead, supports the interpretation of this deposit as bench midden. Also identified in unit 3 at site 924T was a large rock or boulder feature tentatively interpreted as a rear bench support. The position and height of this pile of boulders is consistent with the expected location of a bench feature in the rear of this house, particularly in conjunction with the identified bench midden deposits. Other house-related features were identified in excavation unit 2 at site 785T, located in the centre-front of a house feature (Figure 7.8). A well defined, flat-topped, rectangular ridge of beach sand and gravel roughly 20 cm in height was exposed along the west wall of this unit. This feature (785T2A-F3) corresponds in location to the front wall of the house feature, and likely represents an architectural aspect of the front wall of the house. The sand and gravel deposits evident in the ridge feature also continue across the

Figure 7.12. Typical stratigraphy encountered during GHEAP excavations – profile from the west wall of excavation unit 4 at site 699T.

64

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project

Figure 7.13. Stratigraphic profile of the south wall of excavation unit 3 at site 924T, showing the nature of probable bench midden deposits and other features associated with the position of the unit in the rear corner of an excavated house interior.

Figure 7.14. Stratigraphic profile of the east wall of excavation unit 2 at site 785T, showing the pit feature (785T2A-F1) and hearth deposits (785T2A-F4).

extends to an unknown extent to the east. The function or origin of this pit feature is also unclear. The edge of a large, flat cranial bone was exposed in the east wall profile at the bottom of the pit (Figure 7.14). This bone, examined only in the profile during excavation, appeared to be a human cranial bone, suggesting that some sort of burial or ritual function may be ascribed to the pit feature. This interpretation and the identification of the bone are tentative, and further excavation would be required to resolve the issue.

bottom of the excavation unit, and may represent a house floor. Directly eastward from the ridge of sand and gravel, and laying directly on top of the sand and gravel layer at the bottom of the unit, was a relatively substantial lense of charcoal and black soil, possibly representing a hearth feature. Other features encountered during GHEAP excavations were more nebulous in terms of function. An interesting pit feature (785T2A-F1) was exposed along the eastern wall of excavation unit 2 at site 785T, the same unit that included the ridge of sand and gravel and the hearth described above. This pit feature, diagrammed in Figure 7.14, is filled with alternating layers of dense crushed shell, dense fish bone, and dense mussel shell and black soil. The size of the feature is unclear, as unit 2 exposed only a thin slice of the edge of the feature, and the feature

A thin layer of clean beach sand (781T2A-F1), overlying an even thinner layer composed almost entirely of small fish bones (785T2A-F2), was uncovered in unit 2 at site 781T. The origin of these layers is unknown, though they may represent a tsunami event, as similar deposits have elsewhere been linked to such events in archaeological

Table 7.3. Summary of features documented during GHEAP excavations. Feature Number 699T4A-F1 699T4A-F2 781T1A-F1 781T2A-F1 781T2A-F2 781T3A-F1 785T2A-F1 785T2A-F2 785T2A-F3 785T2A-F4 923T2A-F1 924T3A-F1 924T3A-F2 1134T2A-F1 1134T3A-F1

Provenience 699T4A3 699T4A4 781T1A2 781T2A4a 781T2A4b 781T3A2 785T2A8–11 785T2A6 785T2A5 785T2A7 923T2A2 924T3A3, 4 & 6 924T3A2, 3 & 5 1134T2A2 & 3 1134T3A1

Description ashy sand lens ash lens clean brown sand lens clean sand layer dense layer of small fish bones sloping wedge of shell midden multi-layered pit feature dense shell lens sand and gravel ridge charcoal and black soil lens dense lens of California mussel sloping wedge of shell midden large rock/boulder pile small pit feature dense shell and bone pocket

65

Functional Categories hearth refuse disposal hearth refuse disposal possible tsunami sands (Appendix B) possibly related to 781T2A-F1 bench midden or rear midden slump unknown; burial? unknown; refuse disposal? front house-bench hearth unknown; curation or refuse disposal? bench midden or rear midden slump house: rear bench support unknown; possibly non-cultural refuse disposal

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods contexts (Hutchinson and McMillan 1997; Losey 2002). Again, further testing to assess the extent and nature of these deposits would be required to confirm their origin.

general term for late Holocene Haida culture, encompassing a degree of variability in regional material culture.

7.6 Artifacts

Red Turban Opercula Recovered from GHEAP Sites

A total of 97 artifacts were recovered from sites excavated during the GHEAP (Table 7.4). This number excludes numerous 20th century historic items recovered from excavation unit 1 and shovel test 4 at site 924T (Appendix C), as these items and the occupation they represent fall outside of the period being considered during the current project. In addition, several fragments of bone and lithic detritus have been recovered, most notably from site 699T (Table 7.4).

The recovery of relatively large numbers of red turban (Astraea gibberosa) opercula from several of the excavated GHEAP sites is worthy of a brief consideration in the context of the discussion of recovered artifacts. Table 7.5 summarises the numbers of recovered opercula from each of the excavated sites. These data should be considered incomplete in that the only relatively systematic collection of opercula occurred during the sorting of 1/8 inch screen samples from sites 699T, 717T, and 924T. The recovery of opercula from other sites occurred primarily through the fortuitous collection of one or several opercula in judgmental shell samples collected during in-field screening, or through the analysis of bulk samples. It should be further noted, that the large samples collected from sites 699T and 924T are heavily biased towards small opercula that passed through 1/4 inch screens and were retained in the 1/8 inch samples that were brought back to the University of Toronto for sorting. Three much larger specimens were recovered in judgmental samples collected from 785T and 924T. Despite these biases, the recovery of red turban opercula from all but one of the excavated sites, and the very large numbers recovered from several of the sites is striking. This is particularly interesting given the fact that red turban shell other than opercula has been identified only from site 740T, and that site produced only a single fragment of clearly identifiable red turban shell. Red turban shell is relatively fragmentary in archaeological contexts, and is not easily identifiable in small fragments. Nevertheless, a significant imbalance is evident between opercula and other parts of red turban shell. Rather than representing food remains, the abundant opercula recovered from GHEAP sites likely represent artifacts, or at least curated ecofacts. Ellis and Wilson, in their extensive review of Haida invertebrate use, say the following about red turban opercula: These opercula were valued to some extent and usually collected on small islands where nesting seagulls brought them ashore. At Hotspring Island, where they were particularly abundant, the live shells were collected and put in hot water so that the opercula could be removed. The meat was not eaten. The opercula were inlaid into various articles, especially red cedar boxes, taawt’aa. They were fixed into place with halibut-tail glue (Ellis and Wilson 1981: 26). Harbo also indicates that red turban opercula were a common decorative inset on wooden artifacts, and further states that “there is evidence that the northern Natives traded with the Haida for these shells” (1997: 190). Certainly, the direct collection of opercula, rather than live red turban snails, as documented by Ellis and Wilson in more recent times, would account for the abundance of opercula and extreme scarcity of red turban shells in the

General Overview of Recovered Artifacts Acheson (1998) employs a useful framework for the categorization of artifacts that is applicable for the region and time period under study, and this framework has been adopted here as outlined in Table 7.4. This system is based on a hierarchy of characteristics: an initial dichotomous division between traditional and historic artifacts; a secondary division of the assemblage based on material of manufacture; and a final artifact classification based on inferred function. The use of this system also facilitates comparison of the GHEAP assemblages with those from Acheson’s (1998) Kunghit region samples. A summary of Acheson’s data is also included in Table 7.4, including the artefact assemblages from the two village sites excavated by Acheson that produced contact-period artifacts, and a combined assemblage representing the totals for the remaining 15 late pre-contact Kunghit assemblages. One of the contact-period villages excavated by Acheson, site FbTs-4, was also excavated during the current project (site 699T). As summarised in Chapter 6, Late Graham Tradition sites in Haida Gwaii are generally characterised by a decrease in ground and flaked stone and an increase in bone tools compared to the preceding Early Graham Tradition (Mackie and Acheson 2005). It has been suggested, however, that this dominance of bone tools and scarcity of stone tools in Late Graham Tradition assemblages may be a localized pattern, as our knowledge of this period has been dominated by Acheson’s (1998) work in the Kunghit region. Previously excavated sites from this period located further north, though not numerous, often have larger relative quantities of stone tools (Mackie and Acheson 2005). The data from the current project certainly support this suggestion, as stone artifacts are relatively common in the GHEAP assemblages (23 stone artifacts compared to 28 bone artifacts). The traditional Haida artifacts from the excavated GHEAP sites, then, fit well within the late Graham Tradition. The definition of this tradition, however, needs to be expanded to include an acknowledgement of the presence of significant numbers of pecked, ground, and even flaked stone in assemblages of this age, in addition to an expansion and elaboration of worked bone technology. Clearly the late Graham Tradition must also be taken to represent a 66

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project

Misc

Glass

Metal

Misc.

Shell

Bone

Stone

Kunghit

FbTs 4

FaTr 3

1

1134T

923T

1

924T*

785T

781T

740T

717T

Artifact Class Abraders Ground Nephrite Ground Pigment Stones Spherical Stone Balls Hammerstones Hammerstone-Grinders Pecked Sinker-Stones Cobble Tools / Cores Lithic Flakes / Flaked Tools Misc. Ground Stone Chisels / Wedges Barbed Harpoons Slotted CTHVs** Self-armed CTHVs** Harpoon Fragments Bone Awls Bone Points Ground Mammal Teeth Bird Bone Awls Bird Bone Points Bird Bone Tubes Bird Bone Beads Bird Bone Drills Modified Bird Bone Fish Spine Awls Misc. Decorative Bone Items Misc. Worked Bone Dentalium Beads Mussel Shell Points Misc. Ground Shells Amber Beads Carved Stone Pipes Misc. Basketry / Cordage Misc. Worked Wood Copper Wire Total Traditional Chinese Coins (Brass) Rolled Copper Beads Misc. Worked Sheet Copper Lead Musket Balls Iron Nails / Spikes Iron Fragments Glass Trade Beads White Glass Buttons Bottle Glass Mirror Fragments Misc. Glass Fragments Clay Pipe Stem Fragments Misc. Ceramic Fragments Misc. Historic Items Total Historic Total Artifacts Proportion Traditional Proportion Historic Lithic Detritus Bone Detritus

699T

Table 7.4. Summary of all artifacts recovered from GHEAP excavations (from Appendix C), and comparisons to Acheson’s (1998) Kunghit area assemblages. FaTr-3 (610T) and FbTs-4 (699T) are the villages with historic components excavated by Acheson (1998); the “Kunghit” category includes Acheson’s remaining 15 sites.

6

1 1

1

1 1

1 1

1

2 1

1 1

1

1 1 1 1 1

1

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 2 4 1 5

1 1 1

1 1

3 2 1 1

1

1 2

1

7 5 4 6 9

1

3

2

5 1

1 1

2 3 1 2 2

2

1

2 3 4 4 1 2 6 4 4 1 22 2 10 4 16 15 7 5 37 2 3 6

3 1 1 11 1

5

0

12

14

7

5

1 1 6

1

53

14

3 9 1 179

1 3

1 6

1 4 4 1 5

1 1 1

1

3 1 2

1 1

2 13 0.85 0.15 1 30

3 10 15 0.33 0.67

1

0 0

2 14 0.86 0.14 1

1

2 16 0.88 0.12 2

2 9 0.78 0.22

1 6 0.83 0.17

1 1 1

1

18 24 0.25 0.75

6 59 0.90 0.10

6 20 0.70 0.30

0 179 1.00 0.00

3

* For site 924T only items from units 2 and 3, associated with the traditional Haida occupation, are included here. ** CTHVs refer to Composite Toggling Harpoon Valves.

GHEAP assemblages. Similarly, ethnographic and historic collections of Haida artifacts provide numerous examples of the use of red turban opercula to decorate

wooden items (MacDonald and Cybulski 1973; Malloy 2000; RBCM 2006). Upon brief examination, none of the recovered opercula show obvious signs of having been 67

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods worked or used as inlay on larger items, though it is unclear what lasting evidence such use might leave. Nevertheless, it seems likely that the numerous opercula recovered from the excavated GHEAP sites represent at least the collection and curation of opercula for this purpose, if not representing the remains of items that were actually decorated with inlaid operculum shell.

Table 7.5. Red turban (Astraea gibberosa) opercula recovered from various contexts in GHEAP sites. Numbers should be considered minimums, as collection of opercula was inconsistent and unsystematic.

Site

699T 717T 740T 781T 785T 923T 924T

Judgmental Shell Samples

4 1

Red Turban Opercula 1/8-inch Screen Samples Bulk Samples 1/4 Est. Total Sample 59 236 3 12 2 n/a 1 31 n/a n/a 2 132* 528 1

Total 236 14 1 31 4 2 530

Red Turban Shell (Excluding Opercula)

Present

*All but 2 of the opercula recovered from site 924T 1/8-inch samples were recovered from excavation unit 3, which was located in the inside rear corner of a house depression feature.

short time period surrounding ca. 9,500 BP (Fedje 1993; Fedje et al. 2005c). Elevations for all the excavated GHEAP sites general fall between roughly 1 and 3 metres above current high-water levels. At site 924T, a roughly 5 metre raised terrace along the rear (eastern) side of the site contains dense midden deposits and house features, but this area of the site was not tested during the GHEAP. Portions of site 740T are currently as high as 7 metres above high water, though radiocarbon dates from this raised area of the site place its occupation in the late precontact period (Table 7.7). All other components excavated during the GHEAP are located at elevations of 2.5 metres or less above current high water levels. Based on the reconstructed sea level history (Fedje 1993; Fedje et al. 2005c; Chapter 3), the most elevated of these site localities would have been inundated with sea water until ca. 2,000 BP, with lower locations inundated until even more recent times. This places the maximum age for the occupations of these sites at 2,000 BP or less.

7.7 Dating of Site Components Various lines of evidence contribute to the dating of the occupations of the sites excavated during the GHEAP. At the most general level, the sea-level history for the region (Chapter 3) constrains the periods during which the landforms on which the sites are located would have been suitable for occupation. Temporally diagnostic artifacts, particularly early European contact-period items, also provide evidence of site dates. Unfortunately, this recent period is notoriously difficult to date using radiocarbon methods. Nevertheless, radiocarbon determinations have been used in late pre-contact and early contact period sites in Gwaii Haanas (Acheson 1998), and can provide an indication of whether a site was occupied entirely during the pre-contact period, or whether the site may have been occupied into the early contact period. Previous archaeological work in the region has also provided insight into the expected dates of particular types of assemblages, and salmon-dominated faunal assemblages from southern Haida Gwaii, for example, typically date to the period after 1,400 BP (Orchard and Clark 2005). Finally, ethnographic and ethnohistoric sources describe some aspects of the use and abandonment of sites in various parts of Haida Gwaii, and such sources can provide an additional source of insight into the dates of site occupations. The following sections address these various chronological indicators and synthesize these sources of data into a general overview of the occupations of the eight GHEAP sites.

Temporally Diagnostic Artifacts Contact-period artifacts recovered from the excavated GHEAP sites, excluding the numerous historic artifacts recovered from site 717T and the southern portion of site 924T, are reviewed in Table 7.6. As indicated in section 7.6 (see Appendices B and C), the historic items from site 717T were recovered from the uppermost stratigraphic layer, which appears to represent a disturbed, mixed matrix of both historic and prehistoric origin. This site was used as a potato garden by the Tanu people in the late 19th century and contained squatters’ gardens and buildings in the mid-20th century (Fedje and Wanagun 1992), while continuing use by the Haida Rediscovery Program has also led to the recent construction of four new buildings, along with outhouses and picnic tables. The disturbance of the upper (layer 1) deposits likely resulted from these varied 19th- through 21st century uses of the site. Similarly, artifacts from excavation unit 1 and shovel test 4 at site 924T, including fragments of iron and leather and numerous pieces of broken window glass, suggest that occupations of this area of the site relate to recent historic activities. Fedje and Sumpter (1999c: 16) indicate that Haida families lived at the site in the early 20th century while working at the nearby Bag Harbour

Sea Levels and Site Occupations As discussed in Chapter 3, the sea level history for Gwaii Haanas provides a very coarse level of chronological control over the possible dates of site occupations. With the climatic warming and glacial retreat at the end of the last ice age, sea levels in the Gwaii Haanas area rose rapidly from a low of greater than 140 metres below current sea levels at ca. 11,000 BP to a high stand at roughly 15 metres above current sea level by ca. 9,000 BP. Sea levels remained relatively stable until after about 5,000 BP and have been slowly declining ever since. This means that sites located on current, low-elevation coastal localities must date to within the past 2,000 years or to a 68

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project Table 7.6. Summary of temporally diagnostic historic artifacts recovered from GHEAP sites. Excluded are historic artifacts from site th 717T and from the southern portion of site 924T, all of which are of 20 century origin (see Appendices B and C).

Glass Items

Metal Items

Artifact* Description 699T5A2a-2 Chinese Coin (Brass) 785T2A2b-2 Rolled Copper Bead 1134T4A1-8 Copper Wire Fragment 781T1A2b-1 Lead Musket Ball 1134T4A1-4 Iron Kettle Fragment 1134T3A1-2 Iron Spike (Rectangular Shank) 923T1A3-1 1134T4A1-5 Iron Fragments 1134T4A2-1 1134T5A1-3 785T1A2b-1 Wound Blue Glass Beads (WIb)** 1134T5A1-1 1134T2A2-2 Faceted Blue Glass Beads (If)** 1134T4A1-1 1134T4A1-9 Faceted, Polychrome Blue Glass Bead (IIIf)** 699T5A1b-1 White Glass Buttons (Four Hole) 1134T2A2-3 1134T2A2-1 Green Glass Wine Bottle Base 1134T4A1-6 Small, Clear Glass Bottle Fragment 923T2D1-1 Flat Glass Mirror Fragment 781T1A3b-3 Clear Glass Fragment 924T2A3b-1 1134T3A1-3 Porous, Cloudy Glass Fragment 1134T3A1-1 Clay Pipe-Stem Fragment 1134T4A1-7 Off-white, Glazed Ceramic Fragment Artifacts from Acheson’s (1998) Excavations at 699T (FbTs-4) FbTs-4: 6 Iron Kettle Fragment FbTs-4: 2 & 4 Iron Nails FbTs-4: 7 Iron Spike (Rectangular Shank) FbTs-4: 8 Wound Blue Glass Seed Bead FbTs-4: 9 Wound Blue Glass Bead

Temporal Association post-1736 contact period pre-contact to historic contact period

Source(s) Beals 1980 Acheson 1998, 2003

contact period

first contact to present

Karklins 1981, 1992

1780 to 1880

Bundy et al. 2003; Fladmark 1973; Karklins 1981, 1992

th

1830 to 20 century

Fladmark 1973

pre-1840

Mackie & Wilson 1994

contact period th

19 century (?) th th late 18 to 19 centuries

Walker 1981 Fladmark 1973

contact period first contact to present

Karklins 1981, 1992

*Artifact catalogue numbers from the GHEAP excavations include a combination of provenience information and discrete identification numbers. 699T5A2a-2, for example, includes the site (699T), the operation/unit (5A), the natural stratigraphic layer (2), the arbitrary excavation level (a), and the artifact number (2). **Glass trade bead classifications follow the system of Kidd and Kidd (1970; cf. Karklins 1985).

clam cannery, and Eldridge et al. (1993) indicate that the site was also used as an annual summer camp until the 1940s or 1950s.

coin was manufactured during the reign of emperor Ch’ien Lung. Unfortunately, this was a lengthy reign, and Ch’ien Lung T’ung Pao were minted between 1736 and 1795 (Beals 1980). Nevertheless, this coin could not have been brought to the coast prior to the mid-18th century, pointing to a maritime fur-trade period or later date of deposition.

The Chinese coin (699T5A2a-2) is in some ways the most temporally diagnostic item recovered. Unlike the other recovered items, this coin provides a solid date of manufacture. Though coins can remain in circulation for considerable lengths of time after production, minting dates can provide a maximum age for coins found in archaeological contexts. The Chinese coin recovered from site 699T, though highly eroded, retains sufficient detail to identify the period during which it was manufactured (Figure 7.15). Following Beals (1980), this

The white or milk-glass buttons (699T5A1b-1 and 1134T2A2-3) are similar to white glass buttons recovered from fur trade-period deposits elsewhere in Haida Gwaii (Abbott and Keen 1993; Fladmark 1973; Mackie et al. 2001). In discussing the recovery of 6 similar milk-glass buttons from the Richardson Ranch site (FjTx-1), Fladmark states that “on a scattering of rather inconclusive evidence, it is suggested that four-holed discoid glass buttons first appeared in the west in the early half of the 19th century, probably between 1830 and 1840” (1973: 69). Four fragments of green glass (1134T2A2-1a, b, c, d) recovered from site 1134T refit to form a portion of the base of a green “wine bottle”. During a 1993 visit to the site a glass bottle (1134T1A11) with a blown body, neck and rim, but missing the base was collected (Mackie and Wilson 1994). This bottle was collected from within 2 metres of the bottle fragments collected in 2000, and has a very similar morphology. It seems likely that the fragments collected in 2000 represent a portion of the missing base from the

Figure 7.15. Chinese coin (699T5A2a-2) showing the visible details of the inscription. Following Beals (1980) this is a Ch’ien Lung T’ung Pao. Mint marks on the back of the coin are too eroded to decipher.

69

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods 4 were found immediately beneath the active humus layer, while the shell midden deposits excavated in units 3 and 5 were very shallow (25cm thick or less). It thus seems likely that site 1134T was occupied primarily, if not entirely, during the fur-trade period.

bottle collected in 1993. Mackie and Wilson (1994) indicate that the 1993 bottle was attributable to the maritime fur-trade period, and assign it a date of pre1840. The blue glass trade beads recovered from sites 699T, 785T and 1134T were relatively ubiquitous throughout the maritime fur-trade period. Karklins (1981, 1992) indicates that the faceted blue glass beads (i.e., 1134T2A2-2, 1134T4A1-1, and 1134T4A1-9) likely date to the century between 1780 and 1880. The circular, wound beads (785T1A2b-1, 1134T5A1-1, FbTs 4:8, 9) are less diagnostic.

Radiocarbon Dates Radiocarbon dates are available for six of the eight sites excavated during the GHEAP (Table 7.7). Dates were attained for sites 740T, 923T, and 1134T following the 2000 pilot project (Mackie et al. 2001a), and an additional 6 dates from site 1134T were available from previous Parks Canada work in the region. Four radiocarbon dates were obtained for site 785T, two from each excavation unit, following the 2002 GHEAP season (Orchard 2004). Lack of funding prevented immediate dating of carbon samples from the sites excavated in the 2003 and 2004 seasons, though two dates have recently been obtained on samples collected from site 781T during the 2003 season (Orchard 2008). In addition, a single date for site 699T was obtained by Acheson (1998), though this date is unfortunately very imprecise. Details and calibrated age ranges for all of these dates are summarised in Table 7.7.

The other historic items in the GHEAP artifact assemblages point only generally to maritime fur trade period or post-fur-trade occupations. Unfortunately, none of these items provide more than a broad temporal indication, though they do provide an indication of occupations during the contact period (Table 7.6). Metal items of copper or iron are potentially problematic, as both metals were present and worked to some degree by pre-contact Haida (Acheson 2003). Such concerns are lessened, however, by the recovery of iron or copper items recognizable as items or fragments of items of contact-period origin, or by the recovery of iron or copper items in association with other items of clear historic origin.

The single date from site 699T was on material collected from Acheson’s (1998) excavation unit 3, located in the middle of house 6 near the centre of the long row of house depressions at the site (Figure 7.4). Though the large error margin and resulting large calibrated age range for this date are unfortunate, they do place the occupation of house 6 well within the pre-contact period. House six is located far from the larger houses with preserved post-and-beam features located at the western end of the site. As such, it is unclear whether house 6 and the surrounding houses were occupied into the historic period. Likewise, it is unclear how the date from house 6 deposits relates to the shell midden deposits in house 14 excavated during the current project. Given the large size of site 699T, and the presence of at least 16 clear house depressions at the site (Figure 7.4), it is likely that many of the houses were relatively recent additions during the period of amalgamation of smaller, dispersed villages into larger, more centralized villages (Acheson 1998, 2005). Though Acheson (1998) has suggested that this process of amalgamation began to some extent in the period immediately preceding European contact, the process was amplified during the contact period. The larger houses at the western end of the site may have been occupied most recently as indicated by the recovered historic artifacts and the continuing preservation of house posts and beams associated with houses 10 through 16 (Figure 7.4). Houses at the eastern end of the site may have been abandoned earlier in the contact period as populations declined through a combination of diseases and increased warfare. This remains largely speculative at this point, and will require additional sampling and radiocarbon dating to resolve.

A consideration of the relative proportions of traditional and historic items in the artifact assemblages may also provide some insight into relative site ages. In a systematic comparison of historic and traditional artifact assemblages from several sites on the central and northern coast of British Columbia, Hobler (1986) found a good relationship between proportions and types of artifacts and the relative ages of the sites, with recent sites having greater proportions of historic artifacts. Though the relatively small size of the artifact assemblages from the GHEAP sites precludes such a systematic approach, a more general examination of assemblage compositions is warranted. Relative proportions of traditional and historic artifacts are summarised in Table 7.4. With the exception of site 740T, which produced no artifacts, all of the excavated GHEAP sites produced both traditional and historic items. Generally, items of traditional style are dominant, ranging from 78 to 88 percent of the recovered artifacts in all but two of the remaining sites. This suggests that these sites were occupied primarily during the pre-contact period, but also contain brief contactperiod occupations in their upper levels. Site 717T produced a relatively large sample of historic items, but as discussed above (also see Appendices B and C) these items almost certainly all result from recent, 20th-century activities at the site. Items that were recovered from undisturbed shell midden contexts at 717T include only two fragments of worked sea mammal bone. The second historic-dominated site (1134T) has no archaeological or historic record suggesting late 19th or 20th century use or disturbance, and is highly dominated by fur-trade period artifacts which comprise 75 percent of the total artifact assemblage from the site. The nature of the site deposits also points to a recent, and relatively short-lived occupation. All of the artifacts recovered from units 2 and

Radiocarbon dates from sites 740T, 781T and 785T fall entirely within the pre-contact period (Table 7.7). The 70

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project Table 7.7. Radiocarbon dates from all excavated GHEAP sites. Radiocarbon ages are corrected for isotopic fractionation. Calibration was conducted using the online version of Calib (version 5.0.2 © Minze Stuiver and Paula Reimer 2009) using the INTCAL04 and MARINE04 databases. Marine samples (shell and bone) were corrected for the marine reservoir effect using a local reservoir (∆R) of 250±50 (Southon and Fedje 2003). Site and Provenience 699T3A 740T1A2

Lab Sample Number BGS-1296 CAMS-70707

marine shell

Radiocarbon Age (BP) 1375±400 1090±40

740T1A2

CAMS-70708

charcoal

390±50

781T4A3a

Beta-229459

charcoal

550±40

781T4A4a

Beta-229460

charcoal

1020±40

785T1A3b

TO-10888

charcoal

630±60

785T1A4b

TO-10889

charcoal

850±60

785T2A2c

TO-10890

charcoal

570±50

785T2A3c

TO-10891

charcoal

1810±60

923T1A3

CAMS-75532

charcoal

150±50

1134T

CAMS-14421

charcoal

160±60

1134T

CAMS-14422

charcoal

240±60

1134T 1134T 1134T 1134T 1134T3A1

CAMS-15357 CAMS-15358 CAMS-15359 CAMS-15360 CAMS-70705

butter clam salmon bone rockfish bone littleneck shell marine shell

740±60 1030±70 950±90 660±60 970±40

1134T3A1

CAMS-70706

charcoal

190±40

Material

Calibrated Age (95.4% c.i.) 203 BC to AD 1399 (p=1.000) AD 1392 to 1641 (p=1.000) AD 1435 to 1531 (p=0.586) AD 1537 to 1635 (p=0.414) AD 1304 to 1365 (p=0.465) AD 1384 to 1438 (p=0.535) AD 898 to 920 (p=0.052) AD 944 to 1052 (p=0.793) AD 1081 to 1128 (p=0.117) AD 1135 to 1152 (p=0.038) AD 1276 to 1415 (p=1.000) AD 1040 to 1110 (p=0.222) AD 1115 to 1271 (p=0.778) AD 1297 to 1431 (p=1.000) AD 74 to 352 (p=0.987) AD 367 to 380 (p=0.013) AD 1664 to 1787 (p=0.468) AD 1792 to 1894 (p=0.354) AD 1905 to 1953 (p=0.178) AD 1655 to 1894 (p=0.825) AD 1904 to 1953 (p=0.175) AD 1481 to 1697 (p=0.573) AD 1724 to 1815 (p=0.294) AD 1834 to 1878 (p=0.038) AD 1916 to 1952 (p=0.095) AD 1691 to 1950 (p=1.000) AD 1407 to 1691 (p=1.000) AD 1435 to 1852 (p=1.000) AD 1708 to 1950 (p=1.000) AD 1468 to 1691 (p=1.000) AD 1645 to 1699 (p=0.236) AD 1721 to 1818 (p=0.513) AD 1833 to 1880 (p=0.072) AD 1915 to 1953 (p=0.179)

Source Acheson 1998 Mackie et al. 2001a Mackie et al. 2001a Orchard 2008 Orchard 2008 Orchard 2004 Orchard 2004 Orchard 2004 Orchard 2004 Mackie et al. 2001a Mackie et al. 2001a Mackie et al. 2001a Mackie et al. 2001a Mackie et al. 2001a Mackie et al. 2001a Mackie et al. 2001a Mackie et al. 2001a Mackie et al. 2001a

2003). Given this possibility, it may be the case that dates from site 785T are somewhat skewed towards an earlier period than that represented by the occupation of the site. This may be particularly relevant to the very early date of 1810 ± 60 (TO-10891) from unit 2, as this date is somewhat out of line with the other three dates from the site. The remaining 3 dates from 785T point to a precontact occupation spanning at least some portion of the 11th through 15th centuries AD, while the rolled copper bead and blue glass trade bead recovered from the uppermost cultural layer in each unit indicate at least a brief contact-period occupation.

two dates from 740T consist of a shell-wood pair from a single context collected and dated as part of a project examining the marine reservoir effect in the region (Southon and Fedje 2003). These dates place the occupation of the deposits sampled during the GHEAP somewhere within the latest 14th through mid-17th centuries AD, in the late pre-contact period. Two dates from area 4 at site 781T place the occupation of this portion of the site somewhere in the 10th through 15th centuries, though these dates do not span the initial and terminal deposits in this portion of the site. The four dates obtained from site 785T are also precontact, though dating to a slightly earlier period. These dates, in combination with the contact-period artifacts recovered from the upper layers of both excavation units, point to an occupation that spanned the past 2000 years. This is somewhat surprising, given the less than 1 metre depth of cultural deposits at the site. Radiocarbon dates on wood charcoal may be unrepresentative of site occupations if old wood was used as a fuel source. This may be relatively common given the finding elsewhere on the northern Northwest Coast that driftwood was often the preferred source of fuel for fires (Lepofsky et al.

The single radiocarbon date from site 923T and the numerous dates from 1134T are all potentially indicative of contact-period occupations, or at least very late precontact occupations (Table 7.7). The 923T date of 150±50 BP (CAMS-75532) represents an occupation somewhere in the late 17th century through the contact period. This date fits well with the limited historic artifacts and more numerous traditional-style artifacts from the site. In total, all but two of the radiocarbon dates from site 1134T calibrate to ranges that include the maritime fur-trade period, and both of the earlier dates

71

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods result of introduced diseases and violent conflict (Acheson 1998). References to other GHEAP sites are limited in ethnographic and ethnohistoric accounts. Several of the other excavated GHEAP sites have associated ethnographic names (Table 7.2), primarily through the work of Newcombe and Swanton (Swanton 1905a). Though these names speak to the knowledge of these villages in the collective memory of the Haida informants who worked with Newcombe and Swanton, they provide no more specific evidence on the dates of site occupations.

are on shell and have been corrected for marine reservoir effects. Southon and Fedje argue that “dates on shell and other marine material...are accurate to within 100–200 years” (2003: 102), suggesting that these two earlier dates may also fall within the contact period given wider age ranges. Given the overwhelming dominance of historic artifacts from 1134T, these dates support an occupation of the site primarily during the maritime fur-trade period. Other Chronological Data As indicated above, and discussed in the previous chapter, all previously excavated sites from Gwaii Haanas dating after 800 BP are dominated by salmon, while those dating prior to 1,400 BP contain relatively low numbers of salmon and are oriented primarily towards rockfish (Orchard and Clark 2005). The period between 1,400 and 800 BP is transitional, and contains a mix of salmon-dominated and rockfish-oriented assemblages. With the exception of site 781T, all of the excavated GHEAP sites contain greater quantities of salmon than rockfish, and if herring is excluded, these assemblages are all dominated by salmon (Table 7.10). The prominence of herring in some of these assemblages is difficult to interpret in relation to previous patterns, as the GHEAP excavations were the first in southern Haida Gwaii to use extensive and systematic fine screening to recover small taxa. In comparison to previous patterns, the prominence of salmon in the majority of the excavated GHEAP sites suggests that these assemblages date after 1,400 BP. The relatively high proportion of rockfish at site 781T may indicate that the earlier deposits at that site pre-date 1,400 BP, or date to within the transitional 1,400 to 800 BP period, as supported by the earlier of the two radiocarbon dates from the site (Table 7.7). A final source of chronological data involves the written records of site occupations and abandonments, as well as observations of recently abandoned sites, in ethnohistoric and ethnographic sources. MacDonald (1983: 100; cf. MacDonald 1989: 53) shows two photographs, dating from near the turn of the 20th century, that depict standing house remains and totem poles at site 699T. These photographs, in combination with the continuing preservation of posts and beams on the site surface (Appendix B), speak to the relatively recent abandonment of the village. Furthermore, ethnohistoric sources on the Kunghit Haida, summarised by Acheson (1998), indicate that Qayjuu was ultimately abandoned near the middle of the 19th century, when the remaining occupants settled at SGang gwaay. This followed a period, beginning just prior to first European contact, during which the Kunghit Haida first amalgamated their substantial population at several large central villages such as Qayjuu, and then further amalgamated into fewer and fewer villages as populations declined as a

Discussion: Chronology of GHEAP Site Occupations Together, the various lines of evidence discussed in the preceding four sections provide a reasonably detailed picture of the chronology of occupation at the eight excavated GHEAP sites. A graphical synthesis of this information is presented in Figure 7.16, with the chronology and the various lines of evidence also synthesized in Table 7.8. Contexts excavated during the GHEAP span the targeted time periods, including the late pre-contact, the maritime fur trade period and the post-fur trade period. With the exception of site 699T, however, none of the tested sites include deposits from all three periods. Site 699T was likely occupied through all three of the temporal periods under consideration. The depth and nature of midden deposits in many site areas, in combination with a radiocarbon date from house feature 6 obtained by Acheson (1998) point to a pre-contact occupation. In terms of the materials collected during the GHEAP, all of excavation unit 4 and the lowest layer of unit 6 (699T6A3) can be tentatively assigned to the late pre-contact period. These contexts produced no indications of contact-period occupation, and were

Figure 7.16. Overview of the chronology of the excavated GHEAP sites. Solid lines represent established dates while dashed lines represent estimated spans of site occupations. Contexts (units and layers) representing each time period are listed above each line; data sources are listed below each line.

72

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project Table 7.8. Summary of chronological data for all of the excavated GHEAP contexts. Period

Context(s) 699T4A1,2,3,4

Precontact

699T6A3 717T1A2,3 740T1A 740T2A 781T1A4 781T2A4 781T3A2,3 781T4A2–4 785T1A3–5 785T2A3–5

Late Fur Trade to Post Fur Trade

Maritime Fur Trade

924T2A2,3 (?) 924T3A2–6 (?) 699T5A2 699T6A2 781T1A2&3 781T2A2&3 785T1A2 785T2A2 923T1A 923T2A 699T5A1 (?) 699T6A1 (?) 1134T General 1134T2A 1134T3A 1134T4A 1134T5A

Chronological Indicators General lack of contact-period indicators; Salmon dominance. General lack of contact-period indicators; Underlies contact-period layers; Salmon dominance; May date to early contact period Lack of contact-period indicators; Salmon dominance Radiocarbon Dates (440±40; 390±50) Stratigraphic association with 740T1 General lack of contact-period indicators; Underlies contact-period layers General lack of contact-period indicators; Underlies contact-period layers General lack of contact-period indicators General lack of contact-period indicators Radiocarbon Dates (630±60; 850±60); Salmon dominance Radiocarbon Dates (570±50; 1810±60); Salmon dominance General lack of contact-period indicators; Glass Fragment (Intrusive?); Salmon dominance; May include some earliest contact period deposits General lack of contact-period indicators; Association with 924T2 Chinese Coin Stratigraphic association with 699T5A2 Lead Musket Ball; Glass Fragment Stratigraphic association with 781T1A2&3 Blue Glass Bead Rolled Copper Bead Iron Fragment; Radiocarbon Date (150±50) Glass Mirror Fragment White Glass Button; Ethnohistoric Records; House Remains Stratigraphic Association with 699T5; Ethnohistoric Records; House Remains Radiocarbon Dates (10±60; 90±60; 160±60; 240±60; 300±90; 380±70) Blue Glass Bead; White Glass Button; Green Bottle Glass Iron Spike; Glass Fragment; Clay Pipe Stem; Radiocarbon Dates (190±40; 320±40) Copper Wire; Iron Kettle Fragment; Iron Fragments; Blue Glass Beads; Glass Fragment; Ceramic Fragment Iron Fragment; Blue Glass Bead

Stratigraphic continuity with unit 2 at this site suggests that layers 2 and 3 of both units 1 and 2 can be assigned to the fur-trade period. Underlying deposits, characterised by dense shell midden, likely date to the late pre-contact period. The lack of fur-trade period indicators from either unit 3 or 4 at 781T, in combination with the very dense shell midden deposits associated with this site area, also suggest a pre-contact date. This is supported by the two radiocarbon dates from unit 4, which indicate that occupation of this area spans a period from in excess of 1,020 BP to less than 550 BP. These dates are generally in line with the very low elevation of the excavated areas at 781T, and with the relatively low proportions of salmon remains in the lower levels of unit 4.

characterized by traditional-style artifacts. The Chinese coin recovered from layer 2 in unit 5 points to a fur-trade period date for this level, while the white glass button recovered from layer 1 of this unit likely dates to the end of the fur-trade period or the early post-fur-trade period. Stratigraphic layers 1 and 2 in unit 6 are continuous with those of unit 5, and can also be assigned late fur-trade or post-fur-trade dates. Site 717T produced no clear temporal indicators, with the exception of the 20th-century historic items recovered from the mixed upper layer of the site. The intact cultural layers below this have tentatively been assigned to the period from ca. 1,200 BP to contact based on recovered artifacts, site elevation relative to sea-level history, and salmon-dominated faunal assemblages.

Site 785T produced good evidence for both a lengthy precontact occupation and a fur-trade period occupation. Radiocarbon dates, though possibly skewed slightly by the use of old wood as a fuel source, as discussed above, suggest occupation of the site beginning at least ca. 1,000 BP, if not significantly earlier. The strong dominance of salmon in the recovered faunal assemblages point to an occupation post-dating 1,400 BP, and further supports the rejection of the earliest radiocarbon date of 1810 ± 60 BP. Pre-contact deposits are capped by a brief fur-trade period occupation in both units as indicated by recovered artifacts.

Site 740T appears to represent strictly pre-contact occupations, a temporal assignment that is supported by two radiocarbon dates. The lack of contact-period artifacts from this site, as well as the presence of dense shell midden with considerable vertebrate remains is also consistent with pre-contact deposits at other GHEAP sites. The recovery of small assemblages of contact-period items from the upper layers of site 781T indicates that this site was occupied at least briefly during the early maritime fur trade period. Historic items were recovered from layers 2 and 3 of excavation unit 1 at site 781T.

Historic artifacts were also recovered from the upper layers (1 and 2) at site 923T, and in combination with a 73

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods identifications done using the comparative collection at the University of Victoria.

very recent radiocarbon date suggest a fur-trade-period occupation of these layers. Earlier deposits at the site are characterised by relatively numerous traditional-style artifacts, suggesting a brief pre-contact occupation. As with site 781T, the very low elevation of the excavated area at 923T, in combination with the prominence of salmon among the recovered fish remains, places a maximum age on this occupation of roughly 1,000 to 1,200 BP.

The faunal data presented in the following tables includes combined 1/4-inch and 1/8-inch screen samples, except where otherwise noted. Because of time constraints, 1/8inch vertebrate samples from excavation units 2, 3, and 4 from site 781T have not been identified. Unit 1 from this site, the only unit with clear contact-period temporal indicators, has been subject to full analysis. In many cases, a 25% sub-sample of the 1/8-inch material was sorted and identified, as time constraints prevented the complete sorting of these samples. In those cases, the NISP numbers for the 25% sample have been multiplied by 4 as an estimate of the complete sample. Relative proportions of identified taxa, which is the primary form of data presentation below, were calculated as percentages of total NISP values for each major faunal class, fish, birds, and mammals. All raw NISP values are presented in Appendix D. Additionally, for general comparative purposes, MNI values were determined for all taxa for each discrete context, and are also summarised in Appendix D.

Deposits tested at site 924T are somewhat more difficult to assign temporally. The only chronological indicator recovered from the site is a very small fragment of glass from excavation unit 2. Though this is arguably a strong indicator of a contact-period occupation, the lack of supporting evidence suggests that the glass fragment may be intrusive. Additionally, the preponderance of traditional-style artifacts and the depth and nature of the shell midden deposits point to a lengthy pre-contact occupation. Faunal assemblages from these deposits are heavily dominated by herring and salmon, pointing to occupations that post-date 1,400 BP. The final site, 1134T, is the only site tested during the GHEAP to contain no clear evidence of a pre-contact occupation. Numerous historic artifacts as well as numerous recent radiocarbon dates suggest a relatively intensive, if short-lived fur-trade period occupation. A white glass button may be limited to the terminal furtrade period or the early post-fur-trade period. More generally, the extremely patchy and very shallow midden deposits at the site are not typical of pre-contact deposits at other sites in Gwaii Haanas. The occupation of 1134T has thus been relatively securely placed entirely within the fur trade or early post-fur trade period, or both.

General Overview of Vertebrate Assemblages In total, 86 vertebrate taxa have been identified from deposits excavated during the four seasons of the GHEAP (Table 7.9). This includes 63 taxa identifiable to the genus or species level, with other remains identifiable only to higher taxonomic levels. Taxonomic diversity varied across the excavated site assemblages, with total numbers of identified taxa ranging from a low of 11 in site 923T to a high of 50 in site 699T (Table 7.9). Fish taxa are the most numerous in all sites but 699T, where the number of bird taxa outnumbers fish and mammals. The predominance of fish taxa, all of which are purely marine with the exception of salmon, points to a highly marine-oriented economy. This is further supported by the predominance of marine species among the bird and mammal taxa (Table 7.9), and by the quantitative data presented below. Interestingly, the total diversity of taxa (i.e., numbers of distinct taxonomic categories identified) from each site (Table 7.9) is only very coarsely correlated with total excavated volumes for each site (Table 7.2) (Pearson’s r = 0.226; SYSTAT version 8.0, © SPSS 1998). Total numbers of identified fish taxa (r = 0.223), bird taxa (r = 0.161), and mammal taxa (r = 0.209) are equally poorly correlated with excavated volumes. This suggests that the variable size of excavated volumes at the 8 sites did not heavily influence the diversity of taxa recovered. The total numbers of identified taxa from each site (Table 7.9) are, however, moderately correlated with total numbers of recovered vertebrate remains (Tables 7.10 to 7.12) (Pearson’s r = 0.421; SYSTAT version 8.0, © SPSS 1998). Patterns within classes are variable, and the total numbers of identified fish taxa are very poorly correlated with total numbers of recovered vertebrate remains (r = 0.110), while bird taxa (r = 0.595) and mammal taxa (r = 0.604) are more strongly influenced by sample size. Generally, this suggests that patterns within the bird and mammal taxa may be slightly influenced by

7.8 Vertebrate Faunal Remains Vertebrate faunal remains were systematically collected from screened level matrices during GHEAP fieldwork. All excavated matrices were wet-screened through nested 1/4-inch and 1/8-inch mesh screens. All vertebrate material retained in 1/4-inch screens was collected in the field. The very high density of vertebrate remains in some of the 1/8-inch screen material precluded the sorting of these samples during the temporally-constricted field seasons. In these cases, all 1/8-inch matrices were thoroughly washed and then bagged en-masse for later laboratory sorting. Vertebrate assemblages collected during the 2000 pilot project from sites 740T, 923T, and 1134T were identified by Rebecca Wigen using the extensive comparative collection of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Victoria (Mackie et al. 2001a). All other samples, including those from sites 699T, 740T, 781T, 785T, and 924T, were identified by the author. Initial identification of components of these latter assemblages was done using the Howard Savage Faunal Osteoarchaeology Collection at the University of Toronto, with the bulk of this analysis and all final

74

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project sample size, while the patterns within the fish taxa result more directly from cultural or ecological factors. Ubiquitous taxa identified in GHEAP assemblages include only salmon, rockfish, and harbour seal, though several taxa, namely dogfish, ancient murrelet, and sea otter, are found in all but one of the assemblages (Table 7.9). Other common taxa include ratfish, herring, gadids, pricklebacks, sculpins, halibut, and small flatfish among the fish. Common bird and mammal taxa include common loon, bald eagle, Cassin’s auklet, dolphins and porpoises, and river otter.

Vertebrate remains were very common in the majority of the excavated contexts, and a total of more than 400,000 bones have been examined from the 8 excavated GHEAP sites, with 93,396 identifiable beyond the class level (Tables 7.10 to 7.12). Fish were overwhelmingly dominant, contributing 92,185 (98.70%) of the identifiable remains, followed distantly by birds (NISP = 837; 0.90%) and mammals (NISP = 374; 0.40%). Despite the general dominance of fish, however, two sites, 740T and 923T, contained greater numbers of bird remains than fish remains (Tables 7.10 and 7.11).

Gavia immer Gavia pacifica Podiceps grisegena Phoebastria albatrus Phoebastria sp. Oceanodroma sp. Phalacrocorax auritus Phalacrocorax sp. Branta canadensis

785T

923T

924T

X

X

X

X X X X X X

X

X

X

X X X X

X X X

X X X

X X X

X

X

X X X

X X X

X X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X X

X X

X

X

X X

X

X X X X X X X X X

X X X X X X X

X

X X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

X

X X X X X X X X X X X X

X

X

X

X X

X X

X

X X

X

X

X X X

X X

X

X

X

X X

X X

X X

X X

X X X

X

X X

X X

75

X

X X X X X

1134T

781T

Squalus acanthias Elasmobranchii Rajidae Hydrolagus colliei Clupea pallasii Oncorhynchus sp. Mallotus villosus Osmeridae Gobiesox maeandricus Gadus macrocephalus Theragra chalcogramma Gadidae Embiotoca lateralis Anoplarchus purpurescens cf. Xiphister sp. Pholidae / Stichaeidae Anarrhichthys ocellatus Sebastes sp. Anoplopoma fimbria Hexagrammos sp. Ophiodon elongatus cf. Artedius sp. cf. Enophrys sp. Hemilepidotus hemilepidotus Hemilepidotus sp. cf. Myoxocephalus sp. Scorpaenichthys marmoratus Cottidae Atheresthes stomias Eopsetta jordani Hippoglossus stenolepis Lepidopsetta bilineata Platichthys stellatus Psettichthys melanostictus Pleuronectidae Pleuronectidae

740T

Fish Dogfish Shark (not Dogfish) Skate Ratfish Pacific Herring Salmon Capelin Smelt (cf. Capelin) Northern Clingfish Pacific Cod Walleye Pollock Gadid (Cod or Pollock) Striped Seaperch High Cockscomb Prickleback Gunnel / Prickleback Wolf-Eel Rockfish Sablefish Greenling Lingcod Sculpin (Artedius) Sculpin (Enophrys) Red Irish Lord Irish Lord Sculpin (Myoxocephalus) Cabezon Sculpin Arrowtooth Flounder Petrale Sole Pacific Halibut Rock Sole Starry Flounder Sand Sole Flatfish (Starry Type) Flatfish Birds Common Loon Pacific Loon Red-Necked Grebe Short-Tailed Albatross Albatross Storm Petrel Double-Crested Cormorant Medium Cormorant Canada Goose

Taxonomic Name

717T

Common Name

699T

Table 7.9. Vertebrate taxa recovered from all GHEAP assemblages. Taxonomic names follow Hart (1973) for fish, Baron and Acorn (1997) for birds, and Eder and Pattie (2001) for mammals, as well as UMMZ (2006) for all taxa.

X

X X

X

X

X

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods

1134T

X

924T

X X

923T

X

785T

X

781T

Common Merganser Mergus merganser Large Duck Anatinae Sharp-Shinned Hawk Accipiter striatus Bald Eagle Haliaeetus leucocephalus Large Gull Larus sp. Medium Shorebird Scolopacidae Common Murre Uria aalge Tufted Puffin Fratercula cirrhata Puffin Fratercula sp. Rhinoceros Auklet Cerorhinca monocerata Cassin’s Auklet Ptychoramphus aleuticus Marbled Murrelet Brachyramphus marmoratus Ancient Murrelet Synthliboramphus antiquus Small Alcid Alcidae Medium Alcid Alcidae Alcid Alcidae Common Raven Corvus corax Northwestern Crow Corvus caurinus Steller’s Jay Cyanocitta stelleri Jay Corvidae Small Songbird Passeriformes Medium Songbird Passeriformes Mammals Dusky Shrew Sorex monticolus Keen’s Mouse Peromyscus keeni Pacific White-Sided Dolphin Lagenorhynchus obliquidens Harbour Porpoise Phocoena phocoena Porpoise / Dolphin Cetacea Whale Cetacea Domestic Dog Canis familiaris Black Bear Ursus americanus Ermine Mustella erminea Northern River Otter Lutra canadensis Sea Otter Enhydra lutris Carnivore Carnivora Northern Fur Seal Callorhinus ursinus Northern Sea Lion Eumetopias jubatus Unid. Otariid Otariidae Harbour Seal Phoca vitulina Unid. Pinniped Pinnipedia Unid. Carnivore / Pinniped Carnivora / Pinnipedia Unid. Cervid Cervidae Total Identified Fish Taxa Total Identified Bird Taxa Total Identified Mammal Taxa Total Identified Taxa

740T

Taxonomic Name

717T

Common Name

699T

Table 7.9 (continued). Vertebrate taxa recovered from all GHEAP assemblages.

X X

X

X

X X

X X X

X

X X

X X X X X X X

X X X

X X

X X

X

X X X

X X

X X

X X X

X X

X X X X

X X X

X

X X

X X X

X X X X X X X X X X X X X 16 20 14 50

X

X

X X

X

X

X

X X

X X X X

X X

X X

X

X X

X

X X X

X

X X

X X X

X X

X X

X

X

29 12 8 49

24 13 10 47

5 4 2 11

16 6 4 26

6 3 5 14

X 11 6 7 24

13 7 4 24

for loons and grebes, albatross, cormorants, ducks, alcids, corvids, and songbirds. Several mammal taxa were removed from further consideration, as they represent intrusive or non-economic taxa. Dusky shrew and Keen’s mouse remains likely represent intrusive or commensal species, while domestic dog remains are not likely the result simply of subsistence activities, and likely represent a different taphonomic history than other vertebrate remains. These three taxa are included at the bottom of Table 7.12 for comparative purposes. Other mammal taxa were aggregated as per birds and fish to simplify the taxonomic categories under consideration. Notably, though whales, dolphins and porpoises have been lumped into a single cetacean category, only a

For the purposes of presenting and examining patterns in the relative proportions of vertebrate taxa across the excavated assemblages, the 86 taxonomic categories outlined in Table 7.9 were simplified into 41 inclusive categories as outlined in Tables 7.10 through 7.12. Simplification of categories included the lumping of related, non-exclusive categories into single inclusive categories. This included the combining of Pacific cod, walleye pollock, and unidentified Gadids into a single Gadid category; the lumping of gunnels, pricklebacks and wolf-eels, all members of the Suborder Zoarcoidei; the lumping of all sculpins in a Family-level category; and the lumping of all non-halibut flatfish into a single category. Among birds, lumped categories were created 76

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project Table 7.10. Relative proportions (% NISP) and NISP values for all identified fish remains from GHEAP assemblages. Common taxa are highlighted. Site 781T is divided into an assemblage that includes material that was screened through 1/8-inch mesh (unit 1) and an assemblage that was only screened through 1/4-inch mesh (units 2–4). The 1/4-inch sample is not directly comparable to the other assemblages, but is included here for more general comparative purposes. 699T % NISP 1.34 156

Common Name Dogfish Skate Ratfish Pacific Herring Salmon (Whole) Smelt (cf. Capelin) Northern Clingfish Gadid (Cod & Pollock) Gunnels / Pricklebacks / Wolf-Eel Rockfish Sablefish Greenling Lingcod Sculpin Pacific Halibut Flatfish (not Halibut) Other Fish Taxa Total Salmon (Vert. Frags.) Unidentified Fish Total Fish

717T % NISP 1.24 85 0.01 1

0.01 27.71 59.90

1 3228 6979

0.29 0.03

34 3

0.01

1

6.51

758

0.54

2.10

245

0.07

0.40 0.03 0.27 1.19 0.23

47 3 31 139 27

100.01 11651 18415 145679 175745

Common Name Dogfish Skate Ratfish Pacific Herring Salmon (Whole) Smelt (cf. Capelin) Northern Clingfish Gadid (Cod & Pollock) Gunnels / Pricklebacks / Wolf-Eel Rockfish Sablefish Greenling Lingcod Sculpin Pacific Halibut Flatfish (not Halibut) Other Fish Taxa Total Salmon (Vert. Frags.) Unidentified Fish Total Fish

43.01 54.72 0.12

740T % NISP 2.68 3 1 15 40

0.09

3

6.67

138

37

9.82

11

0.09

3

0.05

1

5

16.07

18

6.25

7

3.55 0.23 0.46

124 8 16

1.79 9.82 0.89 2.68 99.99

2 11 1 3 112

38.54 0.05 3.00 0.19 2.27 0.10 3.14

797 1 62 4 47 2 65

100.00

2068

7 12

99.99 6877 10552 56426 73855

785T % NISP 3.37 213 1.99 3.34 76.82 0.13

126 211 4853 8

2.14

135

781T (1/4”) % NISP 5.66 117 0.05 1 2.95 61 13.35 276 23.98 496

0.89 13.39 35.71

2958 3763 8

0.10 0.17

781T (1/8”) % NISP 7.30 255 0.06 2 0.92 32 80.31 2807 5.09 178 0.11 4

19 709 840

923T % NISP 7.14 1

42.86

6

0.80 28 0.14 5 0.83 29 0.03 1 100.01 3495 1897 14011 19403

924T % NISP 0.93 156 0.02 4 0.02 4 63.09 10549 34.73 5807 0.60 100 0.10

17

%

95 2749 4912

1134T NISP

0.22

2

84.96

768

1.12

71

7.14

1

0.07

12

7.95 0.06 0.54 0.08 1.39

502 4 34 5 88

35.71

5

0.11

19

14.49

131

7.14

1

1.06

67

0.10 0.01 0.20

17 2 34

0.11 0.11 0.11

1 1 1

99.98 16721 11567 88010 116298

100.00

904

99.99 6317 1420 12834 20571

99.99

14 36 50

61 2792 3757

1/4-inch screen materials have been analysed from excavation units 2 through 4 at site 781T. These data have been included throughout the summary tables for general comparative purposes, but are in many ways incomparable to assemblages including both 1/8-and 1/4inch fauna. Specifically, Pacific herring, smelt, pricklebacks, and to a lesser extent salmon are likely to be highly under-represented in the assemblages from units 2 through 4 at site 781T. Salmon remains also justify brief methodological consideration. Unlike other taxa, salmon vertebrae are identifiable in very small, fragmentary form. The unusually high identifiability of

single isolated whale element was recovered from context 699T5A1. The remainder of this category represents dolphin and porpoise remains, primarily the Pacific white-sided dolphin and the harbour porpoise. Table 7.10 summarises the relative proportions of fish taxa recovered from the eight excavated GHEAP sites. In this and subsequent tables, site 781T has been divided into two components. Excavation unit 1 contains complete analysis of 1/8-inch and 1/4-inch faunas, and is thus comparable to the assemblages from all of the other GHEAP sites. In contrast, only vertebrate remains from 77

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Table 7.11. Relative proportions (% NISP) and NISP values for all identified bird remains from GHEAP assemblages. Common taxa are highlighted. Site 781T is divided into an assemblage that includes 1/8-inch screen material (unit 1) and an assemblage including only 1/4-inch material (units 2–4). 699T % NISP 0.54 1 1.08 2 0.54 1 0.54 1 1.62 3 2.16 4

Common Name Loons and Grebes Albatross Storm Petrel Cormorant Canada Goose Ducks Sharp-Shinned Hawk Bald Eagle Large Gull Medium Shorebird Alcids Ravens, Crows & Jays Songbirds Total Unidentified Birds Total Birds

7.57

Loons and Grebes Albatross Storm Petrel Cormorant Canada Goose Ducks Sharp-Shinned Hawk Bald Eagle Large Gull Medium Shorebird Alcids Ravens, Crows & Jays Songbirds Total Unidentified Birds Total Birds

717T NISP

740T % NISP 0.51 1

6.00

3

2.00

1

10.00

5

82.00

41

14

0.54 83.24 0.54 1.62 99.99 494 679

Common Name

%

1 154 1 3 185

100.00 105 155

50

785T % NISP 5.48 4

4.11 5.48

3 4

4.11

3

78.08 2.74 100.00 61 134

57 2 73

%

0.51 1.01

2

0.51

1

97.47

193

100.00

198

100.00

100.01 144 342

923T NISP

99.45 0.55 100.00 118 301

781T (1/8”) % NISP

182 1 183

781T (1/4”) % NISP 1.82 2

1.82 0.91 3.64

2 1 4

6

90.91 0.91

100 1

6

100.01

110

19 25 924T % NISP 4.00 1

57 167

%

1134T NISP

4.00

1 14.29

1

12.00 8.00

3 2

71.43

5

68.00 4.00

17 1

14.29

1

25

100.01

100.00 47 72

7 25 32

(Unit 1) and 924T. In Acheson’s (1998; Wigen 1990) previous study of 18 sites from southern Gwaii Haanas, herring was present in proportions of less than 2% in all but one assemblage (FaTt-9, 8.45%). The far higher numbers of herring recovered in the current project are undoubtedly a result of the consistent use of 1/8-inch sampling, whereas Acheson (1998) employed only limited 1/8-inch sampling in each of his excavated sites. The impact of 1/8-inch sampling is certainly evident in the contrast between the 1/8-inch and 1/4-inch assemblages from site 781T (Table 7.10) with herring comprising 80% of the fish in the former and only 13% in the latter. The fact that herring remains were also relatively rare in analysed column samples from southern Gwaii Haanas (Acheson 1998; Keen 1990) suggests that there may also be an ecological component to this variability. Herring may simply be more readily available in the waters of eastern Gwaii Haanas than in the more exposed waters of the region tested by Acheson.

small salmon vertebral fragments tends to highly overrepresent salmon abundance based on NISP (Wigen and Stucki 1988: 108). As such, salmon vertebral fragments have not been included in calculations of relative abundance. Rather, two salmon categories are used. The “Salmon (Whole)” category includes salmon vertebrae that include a complete centre of the vertebral centrum as well as all other salmon elements regardless of completeness. In contrast, the “Salmon (Vertebral Frags.)” category includes all fragments of salmon vertebrae that do not include a complete centre of the centrum. Numbers of salmon vertebral fragments are included in the following data tables for comparative purposes. Generally, the site-level fish assemblages are moderately diverse, while being highly variable on an inter-site level. Dominant taxa include Pacific herring, salmon, and rockfish, with Pacific halibut, gunnels and pricklebacks, dogfish, greenling and gadids also making significant contributions to some assemblages (Table 7.10). The high numbers of herring recovered are particularly interesting, with herring dominating assemblages from sites 781T

The prominence of salmon and rockfish among the fish assemblages analysed in the current project is unsurprising. Rockfish and salmon were consistently the 78

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project Table 7.12. Relative proportions (% NISP) and NISP values for all identified mammal remains from GHEAP assemblages. Common taxa are highlighted. Domestic and commensal mammals are excluded from relative proportions but are included below for comparative purposes. Site 781T is divided into an assemblage that includes 1/8-inch screen material (unit 1) and an assemblage including only 1/4-inch material (units 2–4). Common Name Dolphins, Porpoises, and Whales Black Bear Ermine Northern River Otter Sea Otter Northern Fur Seal Northern Sea Lion Unid. Otariid Harbour Seal Unid. Carnivore / Pinniped Unid. Cervid Total Unidentified Mammals Total Mammals Domestic Dog (NISP) Dusky Shrew (NISP) Keen’s Mouse (NISP)

%

699T NISP

1.24

2

1.24 0.62

2 1

49.69 4.35 3.11 0.62 32.92

80 7 5 1 53

5.59

9

0.62 1 100.00 161 4252 4413 1 4

Common Name Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales Black Bear Ermine Northern River Otter Sea Otter Northern Fur Seal Northern Sea Lion Unid. Otariid Harbour Seal Unid. Carnivore / Pinniped Unid. Cervid Total Unidentified Mammals Total Mammals Domestic Dog (NISP) Dusky Shrew (NISP) Keen’s Mouse (NISP)

%

%

717T NISP

%

9.30

4

2.33 27.91 2.33

1 12 1

740T NISP

61.54 3.85

16 1

39.53

17

30.77

8

18.60

8

3.85

1

43

100.01

100.00 594 637 1

26 38 64

785T NISP

%

923T NISP

781T (1/8”) % NISP

%

781T (1/4”) % NISP

25.00

2

63.24

43

25.00

2

2.94 11.76

2 8

4

2.94 2.94 16.18

2 2 11

50.00

100.00 416 424

924T NISP

8

%

100.00 267 335

1134T NISP

9.38

3

20.00

3

3.13

1

13.33

2

21.88 28.13

7 9

3.13 34.38

1 11

53.33

8

13.33

2

100.03 154 186 2 1 5

32

57.14

4

42.86

3

100.00

7 10 17

7.14 50.00

1 7

7.14

1

35.71

5

99.99 447 461

14

68

99.99 122 137

15

cultural taphonomic factors. Most notably, halibut, being very large-bodied fish, were likely butchered on the beach, with only the meat transported into village sites and the remainder of the carcass likely discarded in the water (Steffen and Mackie 2005; Stewart 1977; cf. Zohar et al. 2001). As quoted in Chapter 4, for example, Dawson (1880a: 109B-110B) provides a description of halibut processing that points to butchery on the beach, removal of strips of meat to be dried, and the discard, or at least differential treatment, of the larger bones, head, fins, and tail. Jones (1999) indicates that all parts of halibut were used, though he suggests that the head and backbone were subject to different means of processing than the remainder of the fish. Regardless, the large size of halibut bones may account for their differential treatment in and around the houses of village sites (Hayden and Cannon 1983). Additionally, Wigen (1990)

dominant taxa in sites excavated by Acheson (1998; Wigen 1990). The variable quantities of salmon and rockfish may be somewhat related to temporal shifts in resource acquisition (Wigen 1990; cf. Orchard and Clark 2005), as discussed below. Other general patterns of fish abundance are also typical of those documented by Acheson (1998) and Wigen (1990) for southern Gwaii Haanas, with the range of abundances identified in the current project within the ranges identified for more southerly sites. The generally low numbers of halibut remains present in the GHEAP assemblages stands in sharp contrast to the prominence of halibut in both ethnographic and early historic descriptions of the Haida (Chapters 4 and 5; Orchard and Wigen n.d.). As suggested in Chapter 5, this may result partially from a combination of natural and 79

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods whale shows some tendency to be more commonly sighted in southern Gwaii Haanas (Heise et al. 2003). Alternately, the geography and oceanography of the southern part of Haida Gwaii may be more conducive to the deposition of drift whale carcases.

suggests that halibut bones generally are subject to poor preservation, which may also contribute to the underrepresentation of these remains in archaeological contexts. Patterns of abundance for bird and mammal remains recovered during the current project are also in line with general patterns reported from southern sites, though as indicated above, these patterns may be less reliable due to smaller sample sizes for birds and mammals. Bird assemblages are heavily dominated by small alcids in all but one of the GHEAP sites (Table 7.11). The complete lack of alcids in the 1134T assemblage is intriguing, and may relate to the very small size of this assemblage or to the very late and limited occupation of the site (Figure 7.16). Other identified bird taxa are highly variable, and are generally represented in relatively low numbers. Mammal assemblages are typically dominated by sea otter and harbour seal, though dolphins and porpoises are also very common in some assemblages (Table 7.12). Site 1134T again stands out as being the only assemblage that completely lacks sea otter remains. This is almost certainly a factor of the very late date of deposits from this site (Figure 7.16), as discussed below in more detail. The prominence of sea otter and harbour seal throughout late pre-contact and early contact period deposits was also demonstrated by Acheson (1998) and Wigen (1990). Clearly, these two taxa formed a major component of the Haida economy throughout the late Holocene.

Though vertebrate assemblages from excavated GHEAP sites are broadly similar to previously excavated assemblages from southern Haida Gwaii (Acheson 1998; Wigen 1990), a considerable amount of variability exists among these assemblages (Tables 7.10 to 7.12). A variety of factors may contribute to such variability, including temporal changes, ecological variability, cultural choice, or seasonality. Temporal variability is discussed in detail in the following section, and certainly contributes some of the variability present in the GHEAP assemblages. Cultural choice is more difficult to assess archaeologically, and is perhaps best employed to explain variability that cannot be explained through other lines of evidence. In the absence of a strong ecological explanation for the variable use of whales, as discussed above, it seems entirely possible that cultural variables are at play, possibly representing different views on the utility of whaling or representing culturally based rights to the hunting of whales or the use of drift whales. Generally, however, it is expected that the study area for the current project, as well as the region examined by Acheson (1998), were relatively culturally homogeneous. Both of these study areas fall largely within the ethnographically recognized territory of the Kunghit Haida, one of four prominent subdivisions of the ethnographic Haida (Chapter 4), though some of the more northerly GHEAP sites may in fact fall within Tanu territory (Chapter 5). Though it is certainly problematic to project ethnographic patterns too far into pre-contact times, the restriction of the occupation of GHEAP sites, as well as those excavated by Acheson (1998), to within the last 2000 years, and with the majority of these occupations dating within the past 1000 years, it seems likely that some level of cultural homogeneity can be assumed for these occupations as well.

More intriguing is the near complete absence of whale remains and relatively high numbers of dolphin and porpoise remains in the GHEAP assemblages. Acheson (1998) and Wigen (1990) report a very different pattern for southern Gwaii Haanas, with porpoise and dolphin rare or absent in virtually all of their sites, while whale remains dominate five of their assemblages and are common in several others. In fact, the large numbers of whale remains recovered from many of the southern sites led Acheson and Wigen (2002) to suggest that the Haida may have been actively hunting whales. Reasons for the contrast in cetacean remains between eastern and southern sites in Gwaii Haanas are unclear. It is possible that this represents an ecological difference, with whales more available in southern Gwaii Haanas and dolphins and porpoises more readily available in eastern Gwaii Haanas. Whale remains from southern Haida sites have not been identified to species, but it seems likely, given patterns of whale use elsewhere on the Northwest Coast (Monks et al. 2001; Yang et al. 2005), and given the abundances of various whale species in nearshore waters, that whales utilised in Haida Gwaii included humpback and gray whales, with other taxa such as the minke whale also contributing low numbers. Records on cetacean sightings in the region suggest that harbour porpoises and Pacific white-sided dolphins may be moderately more common along the east coast of Gwaii Haanas than elsewhere in southern Haida Gwaii (Heise et al. 2003). Humpback whales, by far the most commonly identified whale species in Haida Gwaii waters, show a similar pattern, with the greatest numbers sighted off the east coast of the islands (Heise et al. 2003). Only the gray

All of the sites excavated during the GHEAP represent village sites, demonstrated by the presence of house features, recorded ethnographic village names, and the surface area of site deposits (Table 7.2; Appendices A and B). Though this certainly does not rule out the possibility of seasonal variations in the vertebrate assemblages from the eight sites, it does imply that site functions were relatively similar. Thus, large variations in vertebrate assemblages such as those expected in shortterm, seasonal-use sites should not be evident in the GHEAP assemblages. The relatively high diversity of vertebrate taxa represented in most of the excavated sites also speaks to a longer-term, diversified adaptation. Perhaps the strongest seasonal indicator among the commonly recovered taxa is the abundant herring remains recovered from many of the sites. Herring typically spawn in the spring and early summer, and are most readily caught at these times of aggregation. The inshore movement of herring, however, is more variable, and they may be available in nearshore waters throughout much of 80

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project (1998) geographically based classification system, site 923T, initially classed as a semi-protected site, fits better within the exposed site category in terms of vertebrate and invertebrate assemblages (Tables 7.13 and 7.20). Such a classification is consistent with the location of this site, exposed to the open waters of Juan Perez Sound (Figure 7.3). Similarly, site 781T is perhaps better classed as a protected site than a semi-protected site (Tables 7.13 and 7.20), again consistent with the site location (Figure 7.3). This leaves site 717T as the only truly intermediate, semi-protected locality. This site is located in a small, protected local environment surrounded by more exposed waters within several hundred metres of the site location (Figure 7.3), accounting for its intermediate status.

the year (Stewart 1975). Salmon are also highly seasonal, aggregating in streams and rivers to spawn throughout the late summer and fall (Stewart 1975). The possibility that the Haida were obtaining some of their salmon through trolling in open waters (Becky Wigen, pers. comm., March 2006; Chapter 4), however, provides a much wider seasonal range for salmon harvesting. Additionally, salmon and herring were both stored and transported to new locations for delayed consumption, and as such they make imperfect seasonal indicators. Small alcids, particularly the ancient murrelets and Cassin’s auklets that dominate the bird assemblages from GHEAP assemblages (see Table 7.14 below), are also somewhat of a seasonal indicator. These taxa are most common in waters surrounding Haida Gwaii during the spring and summer, with only low numbers present at other times of the year (Harfenist et al. 2002). The particularly large proportions of these taxa at two sites, 740T and 923T, may point to more limited, seasonal use of these localities. Other dominant taxa in the identified assemblages are relatively widely available throughout the year.

Several vertebrate taxa in the GHEAP assemblages are relatively well correlated with exposed and protected localities. Exposed localities are characterised by the greatest quantities of gunnels and pricklebacks, halibut, northern fur seals, and, to a lesser extent, sea otters. This is perhaps unsurprising as halibut are most abundant in offshore waters (Hart 1973), and sea otters prefer kelpdominated habitats in exposed, rocky locations (Eder and Pattie 2001). Pricklebacks, particularly the genus Xiphister, which is common in the exposed site assemblages, also prefer more exposed, rocky localities (Lamb and Edgell 1986). Northern fur seals, while possibly breeding in the vicinity of Haida Gwaii in premodern times (Crockford et al. 2002; Moss and Losey 2003; Moss et al. 2006), are currently represented in these waters only as offshore migrants (Heise et al. 2003). In either case, fur seals would have been most commonly available in exposed, offshore waters. In contrast to these patterns, protected localities are characterised by the greatest quantities of smelt, northern river otter and, to a

Local Variability in Vertebrate Assemblages The effects of local ecological variability on the GHEAP vertebrate assemblages can be assessed by comparing aspects of these assemblages to the general ecological setting of the sites. As indicated above, and following Acheson (1998), each of the GHEAP sites has been classified as exposed, semi-protected, or protected based on site locations (see Appendix A). Table 7.13 compares these ecological classifications to aspects of the vertebrate assemblages that appear to be ecologically sensitive. Interestingly, and in contrast to Acheson’s

Table 7.13. Summary data for vertebrate faunal assemblages related to site setting and local ecology. Equitability (V') represents the degree to which taxa are represented evenly (V'=1) or unevenly (V'=0) across the assemblage (Reitz and Wing 1999: 105).

Ecologically Related Variables Smelt (% Fish NISP) Gunnels, Pricklebacks & Wolf-Eels (% Fish NISP) Halibut (% Fish NISP) Dolphins and Porpoises (% Mammal NISP) Northern River Otter (% Mammal NISP) Sea Otter (% Mammal NISP) Northern Fur Seal (% Mammal NISP) Fish (% Total NISP) Birds (% Total NISP) Mammals (% Total NISP) Equitability – All Taxa (V’) Equitability – Fish Taxa (V’) Equitability – Bird Taxa (V’) Equitability – Mammal Taxa (V’) Fish (Total NISP) Birds (Total NISP) Mammals (Total NISP)

Exposed 699T 740T

923T

Semi-protected 717T 781T (1/8”) 0.12 0.11

0

0

0

6.51

9.82

7.14

0.54

1.19

9.82

0

0.17

0.14

1.24

0

0

9.30

25.00

0

0

0

2.33

0

49.69

61.54

57.14

27.91

25.00

0.09

781T (1/4”) 0

785T

Protected 924T 1134T

0.13

0.60

0

1.12

0.07

0

0.10

0

0.01

0.11

63.24

9.38

0

20.00

2.94

21.88

7.14

0

11.76

28.13

50.00

0

0.05

4.35

3.85

0

2.33

0

0

0

0

0

98.86 0.61 0.53 0.356 0.431 0.313 0.574 11651 185 161

36.90 55.77 7.32 0.558 0.797 0.094 0.658 112 198 26

6.86 89.71 3.43 0.246 0.805 0.049 0.985 14 183 7

99.47 0.29 0.25 0.298 0.351 0.462 0.799 6877 50 43

99.74 0.11 0.15 0.292 0.308 0.000 0.949 3495 6 8

92.40 4.70 2.90 0.615 0.665 0.245 0.640 2068 110 68

98.66 0.93 0.41 0.339 0.389 0.487 0.834 6317 73 32

99.86 0.09 0.05 0.257 0.313 0.617 0.787 16721 25 14

97.77 0.71 1.52 0.232 0.254 0.725 0.862 904 7 15

81

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods pattern along ecological lines (Table 7.13), but represent the averaging of patterns from various faunal classes. When equitability values are calculated separately for each major faunal class, more robust patterns emerge. Specifically, fish assemblages are generally more specialized in protected localities, whereas bird and mammal assemblages show greater specialization in more exposed localities (Table 7.13). Generally, these patterns point to highly localised economies in the GHEAP sites, with faunal assemblages heavily dominated by taxa available in the environments immediately adjacent to each site. Minor exceptions to the general exposed versus protected patterns are also enlightening. The 1/4-inch assemblage from site 781T is highly variable in its patterns, almost certainly because of the lack of 1/8-inch screening, resulting in the under-representation of small taxa, in this assemblage. Of more interest are patterns evident in sites 699T and 1134T. Site 699T generally follows the trends evident in other exposed localities, though with less extreme results. This site is unique among the GHEAP sites in its very large size and minimum of 16 house depression features (Figure 7.4). The large size of this village likely precludes the possibility that the local environment supported the village population, and thus may have forced the village occupants to range further afield in search of subsistence resources. This is interesting in light of temporal patterns and changing Haida settlement patterns as discussed below. Site 1134T is also unique in that it represents an apparently short-term, ephemeral occupation entirely within the late fur-trade period or early post-fur-trade period. The unique patterns in this assemblage are discussed in more detail in considerations of temporal trends in the following section.

lesser extent, dolphins and porpoises. Smelts, including the capelin, the only securely identified smelt species from the GHEAP assemblages, would have been most readily available to the Haida during the fall, when they spawn along the shallow, gravelly beaches common in more protected waters (Hart 1973; Lamb and Edgell 1986). Ecological patterns among dolphins and porpoises and northern river otters are less distinct in the GHEAP assemblages (Table 7.13). Northern river otters are certainly not limited to protected localities, and may even prefer rocky locations with access to kelp environments for foraging (Burles et al. 2004; Eder and Pattie 2001). Patterns among dolphins and porpoises are even more intriguing. Prior to the mid-1980s, the Pacific white-sided dolphin was typically more common in offshore locations, but this taxon has shifted its preferred range to inshore waters in recent decades, likely as a response to shifts in prey distributions (Eder and Pattie 2001; Heise et al. 2003). Though patterns in the archaeological assemblages are far from distinct, they may point to similar shifts in the past, with white-sided dolphins possibly preferring inshore waters during at least parts of the late Holocene (see temporal discussions below). The other identified dolphin or porpoise taxon in the GHEAP assemblages, the harbour porpoise, is known to prefer nearshore waters (Heise et al. 2003). Also of interest, harbour porpoises within the Gwaii Haanas region have most commonly been sighted in the waters of Juan Perez Sound (Heise et al. 2003), which may also contribute to the prominence of dolphin and porpoise remains in the more northerly GHEAP sites (Table 7.13). Other ecological trends in the identified vertebrate assemblages are evident through more general patterns in vertebrate abundance. The only sites to contain assemblages dominated by bird remains, for example, are site 740T, an exposed location, and site 923T, originally classified as semi-protected, but as discussed above perhaps better classified as an exposed location. These two localities also produced the greatest proportions of mammal remains. As indicated above, however, these sites may, despite good evidence for village locations, represent more limited, seasonal occupations, which may account for the somewhat atypical proportions of fish, birds and mammals. Equitability values for the various assemblages also provide insight into the variable nature of the adaptations represented. Following Reitz and Wing (1999: 105-106; cf. Betts and Friesen 2004; Orchard and Clark 2005), equitability (V') was calculated using the formula V' = H'/Loge S where S is the number of identified taxa present in the assemblage, and H' is the Shannon-Weaver function: H' = -∑(pi)(Loge pi) where pi is the relative abundance of the ith taxon within the sample. This calculation produces values of equitability (V') that range from 0 to 1, with values close to 1 representing more generalized assemblages with remains evenly distributed across taxa, and values close to 0 representing more specialized assemblages with remains dominated by one or a few taxa. The overall equitability values of the GHEAP assemblages show little

On a broader scale, trends in ecology are worth considering in light of the findings of Orchard and Clark (2005) in a re-analysis of Acheson’s (1998; cf. Wigen 1990) Kunghit Island-region data. This is particularly relevant to data on the abundance of alcid remains, as summarised in Table 7.14. Alcid remains, by far the dominant bird taxon in all but one of the excavated GHEAP sites, are heavily dominated by small alcids, particularly Cassin’s auklets and ancient murrelets. Of particular interest, ancient murrelets are the most commonly identified small alcid remains in all but one of the alcid-dominated bird assemblages (Table 7.14). The single exception, site 699T, is heavily dominated by Cassin’s auklets. Orchard and Clark (2005) also found very robust patterns in alcid abundance among more southerly sites in Gwaii Haanas. Specifically, we demonstrated that sites in south-western Gwaii Haanas were characterised by very low numbers of alcid remains, while sites in south-eastern Gwaii Haanas were dominated by Cassin’s auklets (Orchard and Clark 2005: 104-107). The data from the current project adds a new dimension to this pattern. The dominance of Cassin’s auklets in site 699T (FbTs-4) confirms the pattern described for this site by Acheson (1998) and Wigen (1990) and fits within the Cassin’s auklet-dominated region identified by Orchard and Clark (2005). Sites 740T and 923T, while dominated by ancient murrelets, 82

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project Table 7.14. Comparison of Alcid remains (NISP) from GHEAP assemblages. Site 1134T produced no identifiable alcid remains.

Common Name Common Murre Tufted Puffin Puffin Rhinoceros Auklet Unid. Medium Alcid Cassin’s Auklet Marbled Murrelet Ancient Murrelet Unid. Small Alcid Alcid Total Small Alcids (% Total Alcids)

Exposed 699T 740T

Semi-protected 717T 781T (1/8”)

923T

781T (1/4”)

1

Protected 785T 924T 1

1 3 10 2 82 3 8 45

41

35

98 54

75 72

154

193

89.61

100.00

2

12 3 3

4

1 3

46 35

6

100

22 29 1 57

7 10

182

29 11 1 41

100.00

97.56

66.67

84.00

89.47

100.00

17

vertebrate data are evident primarily through a consideration of the changes in relative frequencies across stratigraphic layers within sites (Tables 7.15 to 7.18). It is also of interest to consider changes evident across assemblages in different sites as these relate to the site chronology diagrammed in Figure 7.16. Such intersite comparisons are complicated by the tendency, described above, for vertebrate resources to be drawn largely from environments in the local vicinity of each site. There is a relatively high degree of similarity between sites located in similar ecological settings, however, and thus to facilitate the presentation and examination of temporal data sites have been lumped into broad categories. Exposed-site assemblages, including 699T, 740T and 923T, are examined in Table 7.15. Protected-site assemblages are somewhat more abundant. These have been arbitrarily divided into two sets to facilitate presentation. Sites 781T (unit 1) and 785T are outlined in Table 7.16, and sites 924T and 1134T are outlined in Table 7.17. Site 717T, the only truly semiprotected site and a single component assemblage, is also included in Table 7.17. Notably, the vertebrate assemblage from layer 1 at site 717T has been excluded from these comparisons. This assemblage was recovered from mixed pre-historic and historic components, and is thus not easily assigned to a temporal period. The assemblages from units 2 through 4 at site 781T are treated separately, as these assemblages include only 1/4inch fauna, and are thus not easily comparable with other assemblages. Temporal trends in the 781T 1/4-inch assemblages are examined in Table 7.18.

also contain significant numbers of Cassin’s auklet remains (Table 7.14), suggesting a transitional zone between south-eastern and possibly exposed, offshore regions dominated by Cassin’s auklets, and an eastern Gwaii Haanas and possibly inshore zone dominated by ancient murrelets. The latter zone is characterized by the dominance of ancient murrelets in all of the remaining GHEAP assemblages (Table 7.14). Thus, building on the work of Orchard and Clark (2005), a three-zoned pattern of alcid utilization can be defined for the late Holocene for eastern and southern Gwaii Haanas based on current data (Figure 7.17). Indications of Changing Haida Subsistence Practices in Vertebrate Assemblages The chronology of site occupations reconstructed above (Figure 7.16; Table 7.8) provides a time-line against which analysed vertebrate faunal remains may be assessed and interpreted. Temporal patterns within the

Among the exposed site assemblages, only site 699T facilitates internal examination of temporal trends, and these data have been further simplified in Table 7.19 to highlight intra-site trends across the major temporal periods being considered. Components excavated at sites 740T and 923T are essentially un-stratified, and have thus been assigned to single temporal components (Table 7.15). Temporal trends across these exposed-site assemblages are minor, with exposed sites showing a considerable consistency over time, a pattern similar to that evident in the invertebrate assemblages described below. Dogfish remains at site 699T show a tendency

Figure 7.17. Zones of alcid utilization in Gwaii Haanas.

83

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Table 7.15. Temporal trends in relative proportions (% NISP by class) of vertebrate taxa for exposed site contexts.

Mammal Taxa

Bird Taxa

Fish Taxa

Common Name Dogfish Ratfish Pacific Herring Salmon (Whole) Northern Clingfish Gadid (Cod & Pollock) Gunnels, Pricklebacks, & Wolf-Eel Rockfish Greenling Lingcod Sculpin Pacific Halibut Flatfish (not Halibut) Other Fish Taxa Total Total Fish (NISP) Fish Equitability (V') Loons and Grebes Albatross Storm Petrel Cormorant Canada Goose Ducks Bald Eagle Medium Shorebird Alcids Ravens, Crows & Jays Songbird Total Total Birds (NISP) Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales Black Bear Ermine Sea Otter Northern Fur Seal Northern Sea Lion Unid. Otariid Harbour Seal Unid. Carnivore/ Pinniped Unid. Cervid Total Total Mammals (NISP)

740T1A & 2A 2.68 0.89 13.39 35.71

Pre-contact 699T4A4 699T4A1 &2 1.00 0.02 2.46 42.20 79.26 47.50 0.82 0.34 0.06

699T6A3 1.42

Fur Trade 699T5A2 923T1A & & 6A2 2A 1.61 7.14

Post-F.T. 699T5A1 & 6A1 7.23

34.88 54.45

15.59 70.43 0.23

42.86

2.41 80.72

9.82

11.50

6.11

5.16

6.62

7.14

5.42

16.07 6.25

3.70 1.64

1.78 0.71

1.20 2.41

0.21 0.41

2.65 0.38 0.04 0.36 2.07 0.02

35.71

1.79 9.82 0.89 2.68 99.99 112 0.797 0.51

1.47 0.21 0.02 0.19 0.38 0.50

100.00 5215 0.425

99.99 14 0.805

100.00 487 0.379

100.00 5221 0.427

0.18 1.42

100.00 562 0.524 12.50

25.00

25.00

97.47

50.00

100.01 198

100.00 4

61.54 3.85

2.70 2.70 5.41 8.11 2.70

99.99 166 0.403

70.27 2.70 5.41 100.00 37

50.00

31.43 2.86

87.50

0.78 0.78 8.53 0.78 87.60

99.45

85.71

100.00 8

0.78 100.03 129

0.55 100.00 183

100.00 7

100.00

16.67 30.77

0.60

0.78

0.51 1.01

0.51

7.14

33.33

65.71

3.85

14.29

0.93

9.09

0.93 0.93 53.27 5.61 3.74 0.93 24.30

9.09 57.14

63.64

42.86

18.18

8.41

100.01

100.00

100.00

100.00

0.93 99.98

100.00

100.00

26

6

35

2

107

7

11

trend among any of the bird assemblages. Among mammals, harbour seal and sea otter together dominate all the exposed contexts, though their relative frequencies are somewhat variable (Table 7.15). There is some indication that sea otter use intensified during the fur trade period, particularly across the 699T assemblage (Table 7.19), though this pattern is slightly complicated by the general tendency for exposed sites to contain high numbers of sea otter as discussed above. Problematically, the component from site 699T identified as post-fur trade contains one of the greatest quantities of sea otter (Table 7.19). This may result from the very small sample sizes that plague the mammal assemblages, or may indicate that these deposits are not entirely post-fur trade. According to ethnographic sources, the occasional sea otter was taken during the early years of the post-fur trade

towards increasing prevalence in more recent deposits (Table 7.19). Salmon and herring remains, while being somewhat variable when considered on the level of individual strata (Table 7.15), show a strong pattern of decreasing herring use and increasing salmon use when considered on the level of the major temporal periods (Table 7.19). Other common fish taxa, including rockfish, pricklebacks, and halibut, are variable over time and show little indication of consistent temporal trends (Table 7.19). Equitability values for fish taxa are also somewhat variable, but show an overall tendency towards decreasing equitability (V’), which reflects an increasing specialization of the fish assemblages over time (Table 7.19). Site 699T also demonstrates a moderate pattern of increasing alcid abundance over time (Table 7.19). This is notable in that it represents the only clear temporal 84

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project Table 7.16. Temporal trends in relative proportions (% NISP by class) of vertebrate taxa for protected sites 781T (unit 1) and 785T.

Mammal Taxa

Bird Taxa

Fish Taxa

Common Name Dogfish Skate Ratfish Pacific Herring Salmon (Whole) Smelt (cf. Capelin) Gadid (Cod & Pollock) Gunnels, Pricklebacks, & Wolf-Eel Rockfish Sablefish Greenling Lingcod Sculpin Pacific Halibut Flatfish (not Halibut) Other Fish Taxa Total Total Fish (NISP) Fish Equitability (V') Loons and Grebes Canada Goose Ducks Bald Eagle Alcids Ravens, Crows & Jays Total Total Birds (NISP) Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales Black Bear Northern River Otter Sea Otter Unid. Otariid Harbour Seal Total Total Mammals (NISP)

781T1A4 13.71 1.61 62.10 4.03

Pre-contact 785T2A 785T2A3 4&5 5.42 3.07

785T1A 3-5 1.51

5.50 2.17 56.88 0.08 3.42

1.42 9.86 71.96 0.33 1.09

1.23 1.54 84.92

2.42

1.75

1.64

0.95

9.68 0.81 1.61

17.10 0.25 1.25 0.33 4.67

9.53

5.66

0.11 0.66

0.37 0.03 0.71

1.17

0.33

1.39

99.99 1199 0.585

100.00 913 0.439 33.33

100.00 3249 0.298 5.77

66.67

3.85

4.03

100.00 124 0.599

1.69

781T1A 2&3 7.06 0.06 0.89 80.98 5.13 0.12 0.09

Fur Trade 785T2A2

785T1A2

8.72

1.21

0.89 5.69 76.61 0.51 2.91

90.30 3.64

0.38

0.61

3.32 0.21 0.42

2.53 0.13 0.76

3.64

0.68 0.15 0.86 0.03 100.00 3371 0.306

0.38 0.51

0.61

100.02 791 0.386

100.01 165 0.250

60.00

40.00

0

100.00 5

100.00 3

90.38

100.00

100.00 52

100.00 6

30.00 50.00 20.00 100.00 10

25.00

22.22

20.00

25.00

11.11 22.22 33.33

80.00

10.00

0

100.00 100.00 3

50.00 10.00 10.00 20.00 100.00

100.00 100.00

80.00 100.00

50.00 100.00

11.11 99.99

20.00 100.00

10

3

5

8

9

5

site 699T (Table 7.19). Given the possibility that salmon were partially obtained through trolling techniques in Gwaii Haanas (Becky Wigen, pers. comm. 2006), and the tendency for dogfish to be incidentally caught using similar techniques (Lamb and Edgell 1986), the concurrent rise in both of these taxa in some assemblages may reflect an increased by-catch of dogfish resulting from increased salmon fishing (but see Orchard n.d.). Several other fish taxa, including sculpin, rockfish, and to a lesser extent greenling, show general tendencies to decline over time (Table 7.20).

period (Chapter 4), and as few as 2 sea otter may be represented in the most recent component from site 699T (Appendix D). Temporal patterns are somewhat clearer across protected site assemblages (Tables 7.16 and 7.17), again reflecting patterns evident in invertebrate assemblages described below. These patterns are particularly evident in the multi-component assemblages from sites 781T and 785T when examined across the major temporal periods (Table 7.20). Salmon shows a consistent increase in relative abundance over time in these two sites, reaching the highest levels of abundance in the contact period. The actual contributions of salmon to these assemblages, however, are highly variable, with salmon being heavily over-shadowed by herring in the deposits from site 781T (Table 7.20). Unlike the 699T assemblage discussed above (Table 7.19), herring does not decline in the furtrade period deposits from sites 781T and 785T, actually showing a slight increase in abundance over time. Dogfish abundance is also variable, showing a decline in site 781T and an increase in abundance in site 785T (Table 7.20), the latter reflecting the patterns evident in

Patterns in mammal and bird abundance remain somewhat unclear in sites 781T and 785T, reflecting the very low samples sizes of these taxa (Table 7.20). The unit 1 assemblage from site 781T is particularly problematic, producing no bird or mammal remains from pre-contact deposits, and only 6 bird and 8 mammal bones from the fur-trade period. Nevertheless, general trends are consistent, with alcids dominating the bird assemblages and sea otter and harbour seal remaining prominent amongst the mammals. Despite these problems of sample size, sea otter abundance shows a moderate 85

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Table 7.17. Temporal trends in relative proportions (% NISP by class) of vertebrate taxa for protected sites 717T, 924T, and 1134T. Pre-cont.

Mammal Taxa

Bird Taxa

Fish Taxa

Common Name Dogfish Skate Ratfish Pacific Herring Salmon (Whole) Smelt (cf. Capelin) Gadid (Cod & Pollock) Gunnels, Pricklebacks, & Wolf-Eel Rockfish Sculpin Pacific Halibut Flatfish (not Halibut) Total Total Fish (NISP) Fish Equitability (V') Loons and Grebes Cormorant Ducks Sharp-Shinned Hawk Bald Eagle Large Gull Alcids Ravens, Crows & Jays Total Total Birds (NISP) Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales Black Bear Northern River Otter Sea Otter Northern Fur Seal Northern Sea Lion Harbour Seal Unid. Carnivore/ Pinniped Total Total Mammals (NISP)

717T1A 2&3 1.13 0.02 42.80 55.02 0.13 0.02

Pre-contact to early Fur Trade (?) 924T3A 4-6 0.73 0.14 79.36 19.29

0.54

0.14

0.05 0.11 0.18

0.03 0.17

100.00 6098 0.350

924T3A3

0.14 100.00 2883 0.278

924T2A3

924T3A2

0.76

1.27 0.08

3.97

66.16 32.53 0.14 0.03

50.36 45.52 1.78 0.26

1.59 92.86

924T2A2

Late F.T. / Post-F.T. 1134T 3A & 4A

2.13 0.22 97.87

84.96

100.00 47 0.149

14.49 0.11 0.11 0.11 100.00 904 0.254

0.79

0.16 0.06 0.08 0.02 0.22 100.00 8715 0.324

0.24 0.10 0.22 99.99 4950 0.390 50.00

0.79

100.00 126 0.211

8.33 50.00 14.29 13.89 77.78 100.00 36

0

13.04 8.70 73.91 4.35 100.00 23

71.43

100.00 2

0

0

10.26

14.29 100.01 7 20.00 13.33

2.56 25.64 2.56

66.67

11.11 44.44

38.46

33.33

11.11 33.33

100.00

99.99

100.00

99.99

100.00

100.00

39

3

9

1

1

100.00

53.33

20.51

13.33 99.99 0

15

other sites. This may again reflect the ecological setting of the site, as the very protected location of site 924T would not be conducive to the presence of rockfish. Unfortunately, the very low numbers of mammal or bird remains from site 924T preclude the examination of temporal trends in these taxa.

tendency to increase in fur-trade period deposits in sites 781T and 785T (Table 7.20). Site 924T is the only other excavated site that may span more than one of the broad temporal periods under consideration. The upper layers of the excavation units at this site may have been occupied into the early fur-trade period. An examination of the trends across the two major temporal periods possibly represented at this site (Table 7.21) reveals several of the patterns described above for other GHEAP assemblages. Of particular note are a moderate increase in dogfish abundance, a substantial increase in the relative abundance of salmon, and a substantial decrease in the relative abundance of herring at 924T (Table 7.21). Other fish taxa at the site are relatively rare, though a moderate decline in the abundance of sculpin remains mirrors patterns evident at 781T and 785T. The very low numbers of rockfish remains recovered from site 924T (Table 7.21) are particularly interesting in light of the moderate to large relative abundance of this taxon at virtually all of the

Generally, temporal trends across the deposits from multi-component sites are somewhat variable (Tables 7.19 to 7.21). The only trend evident in all of the excavated multi-component sites involves an increasing abundance of salmon over time. This likely reflects the continuation of the general rise of the importance of salmon in southern Haida Gwaii evident across the last millennium of the pre-contact period, as highlighted in the previous chapter and discussed further below. Associated with this increasing importance of salmon is a general decline in the importance of rockfish, evident in all but site 924T. Interestingly, rockfish is relatively abundant in the very recent deposits from site 1134T, though this assemblage is highly dominated by salmon. 86

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project Table 7.18. Temporal trends in relative proportions (% NISP by class) of vertebrate taxa for site 781T, excavation units 2, 3, and 4 (1/4-inch screen samples only).

Mammal Taxa

Bird Taxa

Fish Taxa

Common Name Dogfish Skate Ratfish Pacific Herring Salmon (Whole) Gadid (Cod & Pollock) Gunnels, Pricklebacks, & Wolf-Eel Rockfish Sablefish Greenling Lingcod Sculpin Pacific Halibut Flatfish (not Halibut) Total Total Fish (NISP) Fish Equitability (V') Loons and Grebes Cormorant Canada Goose Ducks Alcids Ravens, Crows & Jays Total Total Birds (NISP) Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales Northern River Otter Sea Otter Northern Sea Lion Unid. Otariid Harbour Seal Total Total Mammals (NISP)

781T4A4

5.83

781T4A3

Pre-contact 781T4A2 781T3A3 23.82

7.62

5.83

4.76 9.52 34.29 1.90

4.58 6.25 28.33 4.58

Fur Trade 781T2A 2&3 1.81 0.13 2.84 21.19 29.97 9.17

28.57 0.95 4.76 0.95 0.95 1.90 3.81 99.98 105 0.742 28.57

31.67

32.95

0.83 0.42 2.08

0.78

15.42 99.99 240 0.771

0.65 100.01 774 0.675

1.67 15.00

1.16 4.64 7.19 3.48

6.90 74.14 3.45

3.24 18.53 24.71 5.59

65.00

70.53

13.79

13.53

2.50

9.51

10.00

0.23

100.00 120 0.626

3.25 99.99 431 0.527

781T3A2

781T2A4

0.29

1.47 0.59 7.06 1.72 100.00 58 0.538

1.18 100.01 340 0.789

0.52

50.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

50.00

71.43

3.23 96.77

100.00 2

100.00 5

100.00 2

100.00 4

100.00 7

100.00 31

1.69 5.08 91.53 1.69 99.99 59

100.00

20.00

50.00

90.00

45.45

74.19

10.00

9.09

3.23

100.00

9.09 36.36 99.99

3.23 19.35 100.00

10

11

31

33.33 33.33 66.67

80.00

100.00

100.00

100.00

16.67 100.00

3

2

5

6

increase in sea otter remains balanced by a consistent decrease in harbour seal remains. Again, site 1134T is notable, in that it produced no sea otters remains. This fits well with the expectation of a decline and ultimately complete absence of sea otters in the late fur-trade period and post-fur-trade period.

The abundance of herring is more variable, with relative abundance declining in sites 699T and 924T but increasing in sites 781T and 785T. This trend is more difficult to interpret, given the expectation that herring abundance would decline through the fur trade and into the post-fur-trade period. The complete absence of herring in the late fur-trade or post-fur-trade deposits from site 1134T (Table 7.17), however, fits this expectation, as herring is somewhat dependent on kelp forests for spawning habitat, and is thus expected to have experienced negative impacts from the extirpation of sea otters, as outlined above (Figure 7.1). The general tendency for numerous secondary fish taxa, such as rockfish, greenling, and sculpin, to decline over time, may represent an effect of the increased focus on salmon. This increased focus on few fish taxa in recent deposits is more generally reflected in tendency for fish equitability values to decline over time. Patterns within the mammal and bird assemblages are generally hampered by small sample sizes. Alcids are universally dominant among the birds, and show temporal increases in relative abundance at most sites. The most significant samples of mammals were recovered from site 699T, and show a consistent

It is also of interest that assemblages from seemingly associated excavation units at some sites show significant differences in vertebrate abundances. This is particularly the case with units 2 and 3 from site 924T, which were located in the front midden and rear, interior bench midden respectively of a single house feature. Though temporal trends in taxonomic abundance are similar across these two units, actual relative frequencies of various taxa are slightly different, with the rear bench midden (unit 3) producing greater numbers of herring, as well as greater total numbers of birds and mammals. Given the close association of these deposits, this difference is striking, and likely represents different patterns of refuse accumulation and disposal associated with different functional areas of the house being tested (Hayden and Cannon 1983; LaMotta and Schiffer 1999). 87

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Table 7.19. Samples sizes (NISP) and relative proportions (% NISP by class) of vertebrate taxa for site 699T by major temporal period.

Mammal Taxa

Bird Taxa

Fish Taxa

Common Name Dogfish Ratfish Pacific Herring Salmon (Whole) Northern Clingfish Gadid (Cod & Pollock) Gunnels, Pricklebacks, & Wolf-Eel Rockfish Greenling Lingcod Sculpin Pacific Halibut Flatfish (not Halibut) Total Fish Equitability (V') Loons and Grebes Albatross Storm Petrel Cormorant Canada Goose Ducks Bald Eagle Medium Shorebird Alcids Ravens, Crows & Jays Songbird Total Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales Black Bear Ermine Sea Otter Northern Fur Seal Northern Sea Lion Unid. Otariid Harbour Seal Unid. Carnivore/ Pinniped Unid. Cervid Total

699T – Pre-contact NISP % 60 0.96 1 0.02 2411 38.45 3172 50.59 22 0.35 3 0.05 404 105 23 1 12 30 26 6270 0.432 1 1 1 1 2 3 2 35 1 2 49

6.44 1.67 0.37 0.02 0.19 0.45 0.41 99.97 2.04 2.04 2.04 2.04 4.08 6.12 4.08 71.43 2.04 4.08 99.99

699T – Fur Trade NISP % 84 1.61 813 3673 12

15.59 70.43 0.23

4 134

2.41 80.72

345

6.61

9

5.42

138 20 2 19 108 1 5215 0.425

2.65 0.38 0.04 0.36 2.07 0.02 99.99

2 4

1.20 2.41

1

0.60

1

0.78

1 1 11 1 113

0.78 0.78 8.53 0.78 87.60

1 129

166 0.403

99.99

1

14.29

6

85.71

0.78 100.03

7

100.00

1

0.93

1

9.09

0.93 0.93 53.27 5.61 3.74 0.93 24.30

1

9.09

7

63.64

2

18.18

11

100.00

16 1 1

37.21 2.33 2.33

25

58.14

1 1 57 6 4 1 26 9

8.41

100.01

1 107

0.93 99.98

43

699T – Post Fur Trade NISP % 12 7.23

increase in abundance over time. Other fish taxa show generally variable patterns in the 781T 1/4-inch assemblages. Rockfish, greenling and sculpin show decreasing abundance in some assemblages, but also show some slight increases in others. This may be a product of the lack of 1/4-inch fauna, however, as the large numbers of herring bones, as well as other small and fragmentary taxa, expected in the 1/8-inch samples from these assemblages would no doubt significantly change the relative abundances of these taxa. Generally, patterns in the 1/4-inch assemblages from site 781T are unclear, and the lack of 1/8-inch samples for these assemblages is thought to make them largely unrepresentative of the true trends in relative abundances examined in the other assemblages. The large difference between units 3 and 4 are particularly intriguing, as these very closely associated units were located in the rear interior bench midden (unit 3) and the immediately adjacent rear midden ridge of a single house feature, and

Similar taphonomic issues may account for the differences between the refuse midden tested in unit 1 at site 785T and the house feature tested in unit 2, though these features are less closely associated than those at site 924T. An examination of temporal trends in the 1/4-inch assemblages, namely units 2 through 4, from site 781T (Table 7.18) indicates that these assemblages generally show considerable differences from other assemblages, largely due to bias in the data caused by lack of the abundant 1/8-inch fauna. Herring, which were dominant in the unit 1 assemblage from 781T (Tables 7.16 and 7.20) are found in relatively low numbers in the 1/4-inch assemblages, though they continue to show an increase in abundance in the contact period as evidenced in the unit 1 assemblage. Salmon are correspondingly overrepresented in the 1/4-inch assemblages due to the low number of herring, though salmon continues to show an 88

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project Table 7.20. Samples sizes (NISP) and relative proportions (% NISP by class) of vertebrate taxa for sites 781T and 785T by major temporal period. For site 781T, only the assemblage from unit 1, screened through 1/8-inch mesh, is included.

Mammal Taxa

Bird Taxa

Fish Taxa

Common Name Dogfish Skate Ratfish Pacific Herring Salmon (Whole) Smelt Gadid (Cod & Pollock) Gunnels, Pricklebacks, & Wolf-Eel Rockfish Sablefish Greenling Lingcod Sculpin Pacific Halibut Flatfish (not Halibut) Other Fish Total Fish Equitability (V') Loons and Grebes Canada Goose Ducks Bald Eagle Alcids Ravens, Crows & Jays Total Dolphins, Porpoises and Whales Black Bear Northern River Otter Sea Otter Unid. Otariid Harbour Seal Total

781T Pre-contact NISP % 17 13.71 2 77 5

1.61 62.10 4.03

3

2.42

12 1 2

9.68 0.81 1.61

5

4.03

781T Fur Trade NISP % 238 7.06 2 0.06 30 0.89 2730 80.98 173 5.13 4 0.12 3 0.09

124 100.00 0.599

112 7 14

3.32 0.21 0.42

23 0.68 5 0.15 29 0.86 1 0.03 3371 100.00 0.306

785T Pre-contact NISP % 142 2.65 119 166 4098 4 106

2.22 3.10 76.44 0.07 1.98

7 45 755 4 29

0.73 4.71 78.97 0.42 3.03

67

1.25

4

0.42

476 3 28 5 85

8.88 0.06 0.52 0.09 1.59

26 1 6

2.72 0.10 0.63

3

0.31

62

1.16

5

0.52

5361 100.01 0.391 4 6.67 3 5.00 4 6.67

100.01

23.08 61.54 15.38 100.00

5.56

2

14.29

1 2 7

7.14 14.29 50.00

2 14

14.29 100.01

100.00

49

81.67

6

100.00

60

2

25.00

1

25.00

4 8

50.00 100.00

5 2 1 9 18

956 99.99 0.360

3 8 2 13

6

2

785T Fur Trade NISP % 71 7.43

27.78 11.11 5.56 50.00 100.01

ermine skins (see Chapter 5). Despite the very low numbers of remains of these taxa in GHEAP sites, their restriction to the fur-trade and post-fur-trade periods is suggestive of increased hunting as a response to the market for furs. More problematic are patterns in the relative abundance of northern river otter remains. Though river otter furs were also traded during the maritime fur trade, their remains are rare in the GHEAP assemblages, and are largely restricted to pre-contact deposits.

were separated by a mere 2 metres of horizontal distance (Figure 7.7). As discussed above for sites 785T and 924T, these differences, including greater numbers of herring and dogfish in the bench midden deposits, may reflect variable patterns of refuse accumulation and disposal (Hayden and Cannon 1983; LaMotta and Schiffer 1999). Several other temporal trends evident across all of the examined assemblages are worthy of consideration. As discussed above, patterns in sea otter abundance were variable across assemblages. Though many sites demonstrated a slight increase in sea otter abundance in the fur-trade period, this pattern is clouded by the generally high numbers of sea otter remains found throughout the GHEAP assemblages and more generally in late Holocene assemblages throughout Haida Gwaii (Acheson 1998; Wigen 1990, 2005). Patterns among other fur bearers are of considerable interest. Bear and ermine remains, though very rare in all GHEAP assemblages, have been recovered only from post-contact deposits (Tables 7.15 to 7.17, 7.19, and 7.20). Though sea otter were the most sought after fur during the fur trade, and were traded in the highest numbers, fur trade accounts also make reference to the trading of bear and

Another interesting trend evident across the GHEAP assemblages is an apparent increase in dolphin and porpoise hunting during the fur-trade period. Though remains of these taxa are found in pre-contact deposits at several sites, they were more commonly recovered from post-contact deposits, and are found in the greatest abundances in these deposits (Tables 7.15 through 7.20). Though dolphins and porpoises are not known to have directly played any role in fur-trade economics, two furtrade-related factors may account for the increased harvesting of these resources at that time. First, it is possible that technologies introduced to the Haida by European traders may have facilitated the more efficient 89

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Table 7.21. Samples sizes (NISP) and relative proportions (% NISP by class) of vertebrate taxa for site 924T by major temporal period.

Bird Taxa

Fish Taxa

Common Name

Mammal Taxa

hunting of these small cetaceans. It may not be coincidence, for example, that the only evidence of introduced firearms recovered from a GHEAP site, namely a single lead musket ball, was recovered from the site which also produced the greatest numbers of dolphin and porpoise remains. Perhaps a more likely, though not mutually exclusive, explanation is that dolphins and porpoises were hunted in similar areas and with the same technologies as sea otters. The increased demand for sea otter furs in the fur trade period, and the resulting intensification of otter hunting, would have increased the time spent foraging for otters, and by association encounters with dolphins and porpoises while in immediate possession of the technology to hunt these animals would have increased. Thus, the increased prevalence of dolphin and porpoise remains in contact period deposits may simply be an indirect effect of the intensification of sea otter hunting.

Dogfish Skate Ratfish Pacific Herring Salmon (Whole) Smelt Gadid (Cod & Pollock) Gunnels, Pricklebacks, & Wolf-Eel Rockfish Sculpin Pacific Halibut Flatfish (not Halibut) Total Fish Equitability (V') Loons and Grebes Ducks Bald Eagle Large Gull Alcids Ravens, Crows & Jays Total Northern River Otter Sea Otter Northern Sea Lion Harbour Seal Total

924T Pre-contact NISP % 21 0.73 4 2288 556

0.14 79.36 19.29

4 1 5

924T Early Fur Trade (?) NISP % 135 0.98 4 0.03 8261 5251 100 17

59.70 37.95 0.72 0.12

0.14

8

0.06

0.03 0.17

18 12 2 30 13838 0.334 1 1 3 2 17 1 25 1 5 1 4 11

4 0.14 2883 100.00 0.278

2

66.67

1 3

33.33 100.00

0.13 0.09 0.01 0.22 100.01 4.00 4.00 12.00 8.00 68.00 4.00 100.00 9.09 45.45 9.09 36.36 99.99

section provides an overview of the data on invertebrate abundances generated from bulk sample analyses.

7.9 Invertebrate Faunal Remains

General Overview of Invertebrate Assemblages

Unlike vertebrate remains, invertebrate remains were not systematically collected from screened level matrices during GHEAP fieldwork. Rather, judgmental, representative samples of shellfish were collected during field screening, and bulk samples collected from most natural stratigraphic layers encountered in excavation units were used to quantify the relative abundances of invertebrate taxa. Collection strategies for bulk samples varied across seasons, from systematic column samples collected in 2000 and 2002 to less-systematic 1 litre samples from each stratigraphic layer collected in 2003 and 2004. These varied approaches ultimately resulted in at least a 1 litre (wet volume) sample from the majority of the excavated stratigraphic layers.

Together, analysed bulk samples and judgmental shell samples recovered a total of 41 invertebrate taxa identifiable to the level of genus or species (Table 7.22). Other invertebrate remains were identifiable only at higher taxonomic levels. Numerous taxa were ubiquitous across the excavated GHEAP sites, including barnacles, California mussel, butter clam, and a general marine snail category, while the giant barnacle, Pacific littleneck clam, and sea urchin were present in all but one of the excavated sites. Other relatively widespread taxa include small mussels, rock scallops, cockles, horse clams, limpets, periwinkles, dogwinkles, and chitons. Terrestrial snails, while not numerous in any site, are found in trace amounts in 6 of the 8 tested sites. These snails are likely natural, intrusive additions to the invertebrate assemblages. Rarer taxa identified from the numerous assemblages are primarily attributable to a variety of small marine snails, though two bivalve species, Kennerley’s venus and Arctic hiatella, were also very rare, while large crab and tube worm were found in single, isolated cases.

A complete description of the analysis of collected bulk samples is included in Appendix E. Briefly, bulk samples were sorted into size fractions using a series of nested geological screens. All materials retained in 6.30mm and 2.80mm screens (roughly equivalent to the 1/4-inch and 1/8-inch screens used for vertebrate faunal recovery) were sorted and quantified by weight. Time constraints precluded the detailed analysis of finer-screen materials, though the relative quantities of the matrix for each of these size classes provide useful information on the composition of overall layer deposits. The following

Taxonomic diversity was generally much higher in the representative samples collected during field screening. This is perhaps unsurprising given that bulk samples 90

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project

R

B

R BR

BR BR BR R BR BR BR BR

R BR

B R R

R R

1134T

785T

781T

924T

Polychaeta Cancer sp. Balanus nubilus Balanus glandula Cirripedia Mytilus californianus Mytilus sp. Crassadoma gigantea Clinocardium nuttallii Tresus sp. Saxidomus gigantea Protothaca staminea Humilaria kennerleyi Hiatella arctica Bivalvia Haliotus kamtschatkana Astraea gibberosa Homalopoma luridum Margarites sp. Acmaea mitra Lottia pelta Tectura scutum Tectura persona Patellogastropoda Littorina sitkana Littorina sctutulata Bittium sp. Crepipatella dorsata Polinices lewisii Naticidae Ceratostoma foliatum Ocinebrina lurida Nucella lamellosa Nucella canaliculata Nucella emarginata Nucella lima Nucella sp. Lirabuccinum dirum Amphissa sp. Alia carinata Olivella baetica Gastropoda Gastropoda cf. Mopalia muscosa Katharina tunicata Cryptochiton stelleri Polyplacophora Strongylocentrotus Green Sea Urchin droebachiensis Sea Urchin Strongylocentrotus sp. Unidentified Shell Mollusca Total Identified Invertebrate Taxa

923T

Unidentified Tube Worm Large Crab Giant Barnacle Acorn Barnacle Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Giant Rock Scallop Nuttall’s Cockle Horse Clam Butter Clam Pacific Littleneck Kennerley’s Venus Arctic Hiatella Unid. Clam Northern Abalone Red Turban Dark Dwarf Turban Unidentified Margarite Whitecap Limpet Shield Limpet Plate Limpet Mask Limpet Unid. Limpet Sitka Periwinkle Checkered Periwinkle Bittium Wrinkled Slippersnail Lewis’s Moonsnail Moonsnail Leafy Hornmouth Lurid Rocksnail Frilled Dogwinkle Channelled Dogwinkle Striped Dogwinkle File Dogwinkle Unidentified Dogwinkle Dire Whelk Unidentified Amphissa Carinate Dovesnail Baetic Olive Marine Snail Terrestrial Snail Mopalia sp. Black Katy Chiton Giant Pacific Chiton Unid. Chiton

740T

Taxonomic Name

717T

Common Name

699T

Table 7.22. Invertebrate taxa recovered from GHEAP bulk samples and representative shell samples. All taxonomic names after Harbo (1997, 1999). Codes are as follows: B = Bulk Samples; R = Representative Samples; BR = Both.

R BR

BR

B

BR BR R R

B BR BR

R BR

R R R BR

R BR

BR BR BR

BR

BR

BR

B

BR

R R B BR BR R BR BR BR BR B BR BR

R

R

B BR BR R BR BR BR BR

BR R BR

BR BR BR R BR BR R BR

B R R R

BR BR BR

R

R

R

R

R R

R BR R BR R

R BR BR R R

R R

R R BR BR R

R R R R R BR

R

R R R R R R

R BR R BR R BR

R R

R R

BR

BR

R R R BR R BR R R

R BR R R R B R R R R R

R R R

BR

R R

BR BR

BR BR

BR

R R

R

R R

R

BR BR

R R

R R

R B

BR BR 28

typically consisted of roughly 1 litre of matrix from layers which had total field-screened matrices of roughly 50 litres to several hundred litres. Though field sampling of shellfish was unsystematic, with screeners simply instructed to collect one or more examples of each unique shell type they encountered, the greater quantities of matrix sampled through this approach increased the likelihood of encountering rare taxa that may not be sampled in bulk matrix samples. The taxonomic diversity

BR B 16

BR BR 25

BR B 36

BR B 28

BR BR 13

B 26

R BR 22

represented in Table 7.22, then, is largely a result of the recovery of numerous rare taxa that are present in the sites in only low numbers. Bulk samples, while underestimating rare invertebrate taxa, are suitable for quantifying the relative abundances of the common taxa that comprise the bulk of the invertebrate assemblages in the sampled matrices. Table 7.23 provides a summary of the relative abundances of 91

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods exposures suggested by the vertebrate remains discussed above, the three exposed site locations, 699T, 740T, and 923T, are dominated by California mussel and chiton, taxa that tend to be found in exposed locations (Harbo 1997). The giant barnacle may also be considered a typically exposed taxon, and if barnacle is included then these three taxa account for well over 95% of the total invertebrate assemblages from exposed sites. On the other end of the spectrum, the four sites identified as protected, sites 781T, 785T, 924T and 1134T, are all dominated by clams and small mussels. These taxa, most commonly found in sheltered locations (Harbo 1997), again account for well over 95% of the recovered invertebrates from all but one of these contexts. The exception, site 781T, is also dominated by clams and small mussels (73%), but also contains significant numbers of barnacles (22.34%).

invertebrate taxa recovered from analysed bulk samples. For the purposes of this comparison, broad, aggregated taxonomic categories have been used. Some of these categories are relatively monotypic, with the chiton category dominated by the black katy chiton and the barnacle category dominated by the giant barnacle. Other categories represent greater diversity. The clam category includes several medium to large bivalves, namely Nuttal’s cockle, horse clam, butter clam, Pacific littleneck, Kennerley’s venus, and unidentified clams. Similarly, the marine snail category includes all the snaillike marine gastropods recovered from bulk samples, in addition to unidentified marine snails. The use of such broad general categories both simplifies the presentation and interpretation of the overall invertebrate data and avoids problems that otherwise arise from the use of nonexclusive categories for specific species and for undifferentiated unidentified clams and snails. Of final note, two invertebrate taxa recovered from analysed bulk samples have been excluded from considerations of relative frequencies. Though red turban was identified in bulk samples from three sites, all identified fragments were opercula. As discussed above in section 7.6.2, red turban opercula recovered from GHEAP sites likely represent the intentional collection and curation of opercula for artistic or decorative uses. The taphonomic history of opercula is thus completely different from taxa that were collected for subsistence purposes. Additionally, as discussed above, terrestrial snails are likely a natural, intrusive component of the midden deposits, and thus these remains have also been excluded from consideration.

The small mussel category is interesting and worthy of brief discussion. This category was created to include both Pacific blue mussels and small, juvenile California mussels, which are not easily distinguished based on the morphology of the small fragments that dominate midden assemblages. Given the ubiquitous nature of California mussel in the analysed sites, it was expected that the small mussel category would also contain a substantial component of juvenile California mussel. The strong association of California mussel with exposed sites and “small mussel” with protected sites suggests otherwise (Table 7.23). Simple correlation analysis (SYSTAT version 8.0, © SPSS 1998) of the proportions of these two taxa in each site indicates a strong negative correlation between the two taxonomic categories in terms of both direct correlation of relative proportions (Pearson’s r = -0.639) and rank-order correlation (Spearman’s r = -0.976). Given this inverse relationship, and the fact that the California mussel prefers exposed environments while the Pacific blue mussel prefers sheltered localities (Harbo 1997), it seems likely that the “small mussel” category is heavily dominated by the Pacific blue mussel. This also suggests that California mussel, while a heavily utilised species in its adult form, was not harvested as young individuals.

Local Variability in Invertebrate Assemblages In examining the GHEAP assemblages as a whole, three major taxa, California mussel, clams, and small mussels, dominate the recovered invertebrate assemblages, with barnacles also making significant contributions in some cases. The relative proportions of these taxa in each site, however, are highly variable, and appear to be strongly correlated with the relative exposure of the site locations (Table 7.23). Following the re-classifications of site

Table 7.23. Relative proportions (% by weight) of the invertebrate taxa recovered from analysed GHEAP bulk samples. All clams, marine snails, and chitons have been aggregated into general taxonomic categories. Total shell weights and total dry volumes of analysed bulk samples for each site are included. Exposed Common Name California Mussel Chiton Barnacle Limpet Northern Abalone Sea Urchin Marine Snail Clam Small Mussel Total Total Shell Weight (g) Total Dry Volume (l)

699T 98.43 0.59 0.67 0.03 0.00 0.02 0.02 0.25 0.00 100.01 1497.76 8.00

740T 80.40 4.85 11.50 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 3.24 0.00 99.99 1601.26 2.80

923T 86.85 0.00 13.13 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.00 99.99 219.58 3.65

92

Semiprotected 717T 54.34 1.35 1.96 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.78 41.51 0.06 100.01 158.34 2.85

Protected 781T 4.19 0.07 22.34 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.38 68.61 4.39 100.01 1333.69 4.53

785T 1.20 0.00 0.27 0.01 0.00 0.14 0.38 75.43 22.58 100.01 759.84 7.45

924T 0.84 0.00 0.47 0.01 0.00 0.00 0.56 73.78 24.34 100.00 591.35 5.45

1134T 0.19 0.00 1.76 0.00 0.00 1.55 0.05 22.27 74.19 100.01 62.60 1.00

Archaeological Data: The Gwaii Haanas Environmental Archaeology Project high correlation between site location and types of fauna used also suggests that the Haida occupying these village sites relied to a large degree on resources available in the immediate environments surrounding the village sites, at least in terms of invertebrates collected for immediate consumption. Potentially, site occupants may have been harvesting shellfish elsewhere and processing it for delayed consumption without contributing shells to the middens located at the village sites. Nevertheless, the invertebrate data, mirroring patterns in the vertebrate assemblages, point to a highly locally focussed economy during late pre-contact and early contact times.

Importantly, the re-classification of site 923T as exposed and site 781T as protected based on vertebrate remains, is also strongly supported by the invertebrate remains. Site 717T again represents the only truly intermediate assemblage, containing roughly comparable quantities of California mussel and clam (Table 7.23). Reconsidering the locations of these sites (Figure 7.3), these invertebrate patterns make considerable sense. Site 923T, while not directly exposed to the open waters of Hecate Strait, is located on the only slightly less exposed waters of Juan Perez Sound. This site is also fronted by a relatively steep beach and is surrounded by rocky environments well suited to California mussels. Site 781T is protected from the open waters of Juan Perez Sound by Marco Island as well as numerous smaller islets. This gives the immediate site location a relatively sheltered nature which, in combination with a relatively substantial fine-sediment estuary from the stream at the southern end of the site, provides a good habitat for clams. Mirroring the intermediate nature of the 717T invertebrate assemblage, the location of this site represents perhaps the best example of a “semi-protected” or intermediate environment. Site 717T is protected from the exposed waters of Skincuttle Inlet by the Swan Islands, though the exposure is sufficient to limit the development of more than minimal environments suitable for clam development. The invertebrate assemblage thus reflects the limited use of both exposed and protected environments by the site occupants.

Indications of Changing Haida Subsistence Practices in Invertebrate Assemblages Temporal patterns within the invertebrate data compiled from the analysis of bulk samples are evident primarily through a consideration of the changes in relative frequencies across stratigraphic layers within sites (Tables 7.24 to 7.26). It is also of interest to consider changes evident across assemblages in different sites as these relate to the site chronology synthesized in section 7.7 and diagrammed in Figure 7.16. Such inter-site comparisons are complicated by the apparent tendency for invertebrate resources to be drawn primarily from environments in the local vicinity of each site. The general discussion of invertebrate remains in the previous section, however, found a relatively high degree of similarity between sites located in similar ecological settings. Thus, following the vertebrate discussions above, temporal trends are examined across two broad categories of sites, an exposed category, including 699T, 740T and 923T (Table 7.24), and a protected category, including 781T, 785T, 924T and 1134T (Tables 7.25 and 7.26). Site 717T is distinct from both of these categories, and thus not easily compared to either. Additionally, deposits from site 717T consist of a mix of recent, 20th century materials and pre-contact materials, and thus the

Generally, data on the relative abundances of invertebrate taxa utilised at the excavated GHEAP sites point to a high degree of correlation between the exposure of site locations and the types of invertebrates used by site occupants. In fact, a reconsideration of the locations of sites 923T and 781T in light of both the vertebrate and invertebrate data suggests that these locations might be better classed as exposed and protected, respectively. The

Table 7.24. Temporal trends in relative proportions (% by weight) of invertebrate taxa for exposed site contexts, including data on sea urchin density, total shell density, and the presence of abalone from judgmental samples. Pre-contact Common Name Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Clam Northern Abalone Limpet Marine Snail Chiton Sea Urchin Total Total Identified Shell (g) Sea Urchin Density (g/l) Abalone Presence Total Shell Density (g/l) Total Shell Weight (g) Total Dry Volume (l)

740T2A 11.50 80.40

699T4A 4 & 4b 0.03 99.85

3.24

0.01

6.30mm 112.20 6.32 0.04 0.65 223.22

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

342.43

Weight (g) >2.80mm 9.60 8.54 0.17 1.51 186.09 3.15 209.06

Total Weight 121.80 14.86 0.21 2.16 409.31 3.15 551.49

Weight (g) >2.80mm 1.83 173.69 0.28 0.05 0.07 6.30mm 0.56 218.74 0.21 0.25

3.19 0.27 223.22

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 0.60 98.07 0.12 0.07 0.02 6.30mm 71.16 2.68 0.05 1.06 48.99 123.94

Weight (g) >2.80mm 55.78 5.65 0.04 6.01 77.75 15.76 160.99

Total Weight 126.94 8.33 0.09 7.07 126.74 15.76 284.93

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 44.55 2.92 0.03 2.48 44.48 5.53 99.99

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Barnacle California Mussel Black Katy Chiton Unid. Chiton Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell Total

>6.30mm 48.77 0.22

48.99

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.50 66.67 0.04 0.09 10.45 77.75

188

Total Weight 0.50 115.44 0.22 0.04 0.09 10.45 126.74

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 0.43 99.27 0.19 0.03 0.08 100.00

Appendix E. Bulk Sample Analysis and Invertebrate Data Table E.7. Site 699T excavation unit 4 layer 4 bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 979.74 0.36

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

0.90 2.52 983.52

Weight (g) >2.80mm 54.34 2.32 0.26 1.20 9.21 6.99 74.32

Total Weight 1034.08 2.68 0.26 2.10 11.73 6.99 1057.84

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.02 8.99 0.20 9.21

Total Weight 0.02 11.51 0.20 11.73

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 97.75 0.25 0.02 0.20 1.11 0.66 99.99

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

Barnacle California Mussel Unidentified Shell Total

2.52 2.52

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 0.17 99.83 100.00

Table E.8. Site 699T excavation unit 4 layer 4b bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 407.76 3.74 0.05 1.40 77.94

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

490.89

Weight (g) >2.80mm 41.25 7.43 0.20 2.03 140.18 11.03 202.12

Total Weight 449.01 11.17 0.25 3.43 218.12 11.03 693.01

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 64.79 1.61 0.04 0.49 31.47 1.59 99.99

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

Barnacle California Mussel Unidentified Clam Unidentified Chiton Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell Total

77.37

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.06 139.51 0.02

0.20 0.37 77.94

0.04 0.55 140.18

Total Weight 0.06 216.88 0.02 0.20 0.04 0.92 218.12

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 0.03 99.85 0.01 0.09 0.02 100.00

Table E.9. Site 699T excavation unit 5 layer 1 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 106.39 0.19 8.34 2.96 34.57 152.45

Weight (g) >2.80mm 5.77 0.50 2.77 0.20 0.04 37.22 46.50

Total Weight 112.16 0.69 11.11 3.16 0.04 71.79 198.95

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.03 0.01 0.04

Total Weight 0.03 0.01 0.04

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 56.38 0.35 5.58 1.59 0.02 36.08 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon California Mussel Unidentified Shell Total

>6.30mm

189

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 100.00 100.00

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Table E.10. Site 699T excavation unit 5 layer 2-A bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 204.64 2.54 0.64 0.65 83.89 0.21

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Artifact Residue/Dirt Total

292.57

Weight (g) >2.80mm 36.18 5.03 0.42 2.79 110.42 21.04 175.88

Total Weight 240.82 7.57 1.06 3.44 194.31 0.21 21.04 468.45

Weight (g) >2.80mm 1.92 104.44 0.21 2.80mm 71.28 6.37 0.17 3.99 34.89 10.60 127.30

Total Weight 649.83 9.62 0.37 5.27 48.10 10.60 723.79

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.07 33.56 0.04 1.22 34.89

Total Weight 0.07 46.77 0.04 1.22 48.10

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 89.78 1.33 0.05 0.73 6.65 1.46 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

Barnacle California Mussel Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell Total

13.21

13.21

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 0.15 99.77 0.09 100.01

Table E.12. Site 699T excavation unit 6 layer 2 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 214.00 2.25 0.44 3.28 282.82 502.79

Weight (g) >2.80mm 4.89 4.71 0.26 3.83 199.95 5.19 218.83

Total Weight 218.89 6.96 0.70 7.11 482.77 5.19 721.62

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 30.33 0.96 0.10 0.99 66.90 0.72 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Giant Barnacle Barnacle California Mussel Terrestrial Snail Black Katy Chiton Unidentified Shell Total

>6.30mm 1.70 279.86 1.26 282.82

Weight (g) >2.80mm 1.62 185.33 0.05 0.36 12.59 199.95

190

Total Weight 1.70 1.62 465.19 0.05 1.62 12.59 482.77

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 0.36 0.34 98.94 0.01 0.34 99.99

Appendix E. Bulk Sample Analysis and Invertebrate Data Table E.13. Site 699T excavation unit 6 layer 3 bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 420.79 2.70 0.03 2.55 14.01

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

440.08

Weight (g) >2.80mm 42.58 6.81 0.12 4.27 29.73 12.15 95.66

Total Weight 463.37 9.51 0.15 6.82 43.74 12.15 535.74

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.07 29.16 0.01 0.01 0.48 29.73

Total Weight 0.07 43.01 0.01 0.01 0.64 43.74

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 86.49 1.78 0.03 1.27 8.16 2.27 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

Barnacle California Mussel Littleneck Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell Total

13.85

0.16 14.01

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 0.16 99.79 0.02 0.02 99.99

through recent historic activities (Appendix B). The seemingly intact cultural deposits of layers 2 and 3 (Tables E.17 and E.18) are characterised by invertebrate assemblages containing large amounts of California mussel, giant barnacle, and chiton, as well as significant quantities of clam. These taxa represent a combination of exposed, rocky environments and protected, muddy to sandy beach environments, and reflect the semi-protected location of site 717T (Appendices A and B).

E.2 Site 717T Bulk Samples Bulk samples were analysed from all excavated natural stratigraphic layers at site 717T. Excavation was limited to a single 1m by 1m unit, which intersected only three recognizable stratigraphic layers. Results of analysis of bulk samples from these three layers are presented in Tables E.14 through E.18. Layer 1 (Table E.16) represents a matrix that has been disturbed and mixed

Table E.14. Site 717T bulk samples. Unit

Layer

717T1A 717T1A 717T1A

1 2 3

Depth (cm BUD) 15 – 35 45 – 55 55 – 65

Description mixed black soil and gravel dense crushed shell pea gravels with black soil

Total Dry Volume (ml) 900 950 1000

Total Dry Weight (g) 1158.92 1487.34 1455.30

Table E.15. Site 717T bulk sample matrix size data. Unit

Layer

717T1A 717T1A 717T1A

1 2 3

>6.30mm 666.65 937.12 682.00

>2.80mm 295.27 317.10 538.97

Weight (g) >1.40mm 95.13 106.25 99.38

>0.710mm 51.60 58.83 53.94

6.30mm 651.35 0.76 0.22 0.21 0.10 14.01 666.65

Weight (g) >2.80mm 233.25 0.23 0.08 0.02 61.69 295.27

Total Weight 884.60 0.99 0.22 0.29 0.12 75.70 961.92

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 91.96 0.10 0.02 0.03 0.01 7.87 99.99

Total Weight 0.03 0.09 0.12

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 25.00 75.00 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Barnacle Small Mussel Total

>6.30mm 0.03 0.07 0.10

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.02 0.02

191

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods Table E.17. Site 717T excavation unit 1 layer 2 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 822.00 0.19 0.07 1.10 113.76

Weight (g) >2.80mm 252.50 0.74 2.80mm 0.98 46.29 1.09 5.46 0.11

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) Total Weight Giant Barnacle 3.08 1.95 California Mussel 85.62 54.27 Littleneck 8.54 5.41 Unidentified Clam* 57.05 36.16 Red Turban (Opercula) 0.11 0.07 Marine Snail 1.23 1.23 0.78 Black Katy Chiton 1.91 0.22 2.13 1.35 Sea Urchin 6.30mm 679.50 1.69 0.02 0.79

682.00

Weight (g) >2.80mm 525.00 2.73 0.01 2.77 0.73 7.73 538.97

Total Weight 1204.50 4.42 0.03 3.56 0.73 7.73 1220.97

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.42 0.03 0.11 0.17 0.73

Total Weight 0.42 0.03 0.11 0.17 0.73

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 98.65 0.36 6.30mm

California Mussel Littleneck Unidentified Clam Unidentified Shell Total

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 75.00 5.36 19.64 100.00

to contact-period occupations, these samples provide further insight into the diversity of late pre-contact occupations in southern Haida Gwaii. Invertebrate assemblages in these two assemblages are heavily dominated by California mussel, giant barnacle, and black katy chiton (Tables E.21 and E.22), reflecting the exposed, rocky location of the site.

E.3 Site 740T Bulk Samples Two shallow 1m by 1m units were excavated at site 740T, encountering simple stratigraphies of cultural deposits apparently related entirely to a pre-contact occupation. Bulk sample analysis involved samples from the two cultural layers encountered in excavation unit 2 (Tables E.19 to E.22). Though not representing the shift

Table E.19. Site 740T bulk samples. Unit

Layer

740T2A 740T2A

2 3

Depth (cm BUD) 25 – 30 22 – 32

Description loose, unconsolidated shell dense crushed shell

192

Total Dry Volume (ml) 1300 1500

Total Dry Weight (g) 1602.26 1537.24

Appendix E. Bulk Sample Analysis and Invertebrate Data

Table E.20. Site 740T bulk sample matrix size data. Unit

Layer

740T2A 740T2A

2 3

>6.30mm 759.82 517.48

Weight (g) >1.40mm 223.37 288.01

>2.80mm 427.68 430.40

>0.710mm 102.76 144.57

6.30mm 255.02 1.52 2.02 0.36 487.40 13.50 759.82

Weight (g) >2.80mm 5.99 1.54 0.42 0.30 385.44 33.99 427.68

Total Weight 261.01 3.06 2.44 0.66 872.84 47.49 1187.50

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 21.98 0.26 0.21 0.06 73.50 4.00 100.01

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Giant Barnacle California Mussel Horse Clam Littleneck Unidentified Clam Marine Snail Black Katy Chiton Unidentified Shell Total

>6.30mm 47.82 394.43 4.22

Weight (g) >2.80mm 20.44 359.87 0.05 0.08 0.03 3.60 1.37 385.44

1.77 39.16 487.40

Total Weight 68.26 754.30 4.22 0.05 1.85 0.03 42.76 1.37 872.84

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 7.83 86.55 0.48 0.01 0.21 2.80mm fraction was analysed. Results of this analysis were then multiplied by 4 to make them comparable with the >6.30mm fraction and with other analysed samples.

Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 93.46 1.20 0.04 3.31 401.85 17.62 517.48

Weight (g) >2.80mm Estimated 1/4 Sample Total 5.61 22.44 0.38 1.52 2.02 83.16 16.43 107.60

8.08 332.64 65.72 430.40

Total Weight 115.90 2.72 0.04 11.39 734.49 83.34 947.88

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 12.23 0.29 6.30mm 106.80 225.16 2.99 1.54 1.53 36.73 26.00 1.10 401.85

Weight (g) >2.80mm Estimated 1/4 Sample Total 2.26 9.04 76.99 307.96

0.76 0.30 2.24 0.01 0.60 83.16

3.04 1.20 8.96 0.04 2.40 332.64

193

Total Weight 115.84 533.12 2.99 1.54 1.53 39.77 1.20 34.96 0.04 3.50 734.49

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 15.85 72.93 0.41 0.21 0.21 5.44 0.16 4.78 0.01 100.00

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods

metres, and produced very similar stratigraphic profiles (Appendix B). The remaining three analysed bulk samples represent rear midden ridge deposits from a different part of the site, and were characterised by very dense shell deposits. Invertebrate assemblages from these units were dominated by a variety of clam taxa, pointing to the semi-protected location of the site and the presence of large, estuarine mud and sand flats immediately in front of the site. Other relatively common taxa, including mussel, barnacle, and marine snails, reflect the nearby presence of more exposed, rocky habitats.

E.4 Site 781T Bulk Samples Tables E.23 to E.31 present the results of bulk sample analysis from site 781T. Time limitations precluded the analysis of all samples from this site, though the samples selected for analysis are felt to be generally representative of the range of deposits encountered at the site. Four bulk samples from unit 1, the only unit at the site to produce contact-period artifacts, are felt to also be roughly representative of deposits encountered in excavation unit 2. These units were separated by a distance of only 3

Table E.23. Site 781T bulk samples. Unit

Layer

781T1A 781T1A 781T1A 781T1A 781T4A 781T4A 781T4A

2 2a 3 4 2 3 4

Depth (cm BUD) 20 – 30 22 – 27 35 – 55 50 – 60 20 – 30 30 – 50 55 – 60

Description shell-free black soil clean brown sand lense black soil with patchy shell dense crushed shell in black soil black soil with patchy shell dense whole and crushed shell crushed shell in black soil

Total Dry Volume (ml) 900 125 900 900 750 900 950

Total Dry Weight (g) 750.98 171.80 872.85 1400.44 749.46 905.67 1116.32

Table E.24. Site 781T bulk sample matrix size data. Unit

Layer

781T1A 781T1A 781T1A 781T1A 781T4A 781T4A 781T4A

2 2a 3 4 2 3 4

>6.30mm 284.93 58.87 363.83 931.02 426.86 711.11 604.02

>2.80mm 78.20 25.38 97.01 132.69 72.82 97.86 166.68

Weight (g) >1.40mm 91.39 10.26 96.90 77.53 60.75 36.01 110.98

>0.710mm 101.22 19.96 95.64 73.01 51.60 21.66 78.78

6.30mm 284.26 0.34 0.33

284.93

Weight (g) >2.80mm 49.68 5.18 0.46 0.05

Total Weight 333.94 5.52 0.79 0.05

22.83 78.20

22.83 363.13

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 91.96 1.52 0.22 0.01 0.00 6.29 100.00

Table E.26. Site 781T excavation unit 1 layer 2a bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 58.87

58.87

Weight (g) >2.80mm 25.11 0.09 0.06 0.07 0.05

Total Weight 83.98 0.09 0.06 0.07 0.05

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 99.68 0.11 0.07 0.08 0.06

25.38

84.25

100.00

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.05 0.05

Total Weight 0.05 0.05

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 100.00 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon California Mussel Total

>6.30mm

194

Appendix E. Bulk Sample Analysis and Invertebrate Data

Table E.27. Site 781T excavation unit 1 layer 3 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 269.25 1.49 0.39 1.48 91.22

Weight (g) >2.80mm 55.15 5.07 1.53 4.07 31.19

Total Weight 324.40 6.56 1.92 5.55 122.41

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 70.39 1.42 0.42 1.20 26.56

363.83

97.01

460.84

99.99

Invertebrate Remains: Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.62 2.10 1.44 0.39

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) Total Weight Barnacle 1.15 1.04 California Mussel 2.10 1.90 Small Mussel 1.44 1.30 Nuttall’s Cockle 0.33 0.72 0.65 Butter Clam 21.40 21.40 19.33 Unidentified Clam* 66.81 17.11 83.92 75.79 Unidentified Shell 2.15 9.53 11.68 Total 91.22 31.19 122.41 100.01 *The unidentified clam category is likely dominated by butter clam. Taxon

>6.30mm 0.53

Table E.28. Site 781T excavation unit 1 layer 4 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 880.30 0.57 0.10 0.71 49.34

Weight (g) >2.80mm 96.84 1.79 0.06 1.19 32.81

Total Weight 977.14 2.36 0.16 1.90 82.15

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 91.86 0.22 0.02 0.18 7.72

931.02

132.69

1063.71

100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Barnacle Small Mussel Butter Clam Littleneck Kennerley’s Venus Unidentified Clam Northern Abalone Marine Snail Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell Total

>6.30mm 3.25 0.27 1.77 6.21 6.44 29.60 0.31 1.49 49.34

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.68 1.77 1.84 15.03 0.08 0.63 0.12 12.66 32.81

195

Total Weight 3.93 2.04 1.77 8.05 6.44 44.63 0.08 0.94 0.12 14.15 82.15

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 5.78 3.00 2.60 11.84 9.47 65.63 0.12 1.38 0.18 100.00

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods

Table E.29. Site 781T excavation unit 4 layer 2 bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 381.32 2.20 1.03 1.29 31.08 9.94 426.86

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

Weight (g) >2.80mm 39.08 3.44 2.57 1.52 11.19 15.02 72.82

Total Weight 420.40 5.64 3.60 2.81 42.27 24.96 499.68

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 84.13 1.13 0.72 0.56 8.46 5.00 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

Barnacle California Mussel Butter Clam Littleneck Unidentified Clam Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell Total

3.41 2.15 2.42 23.10

31.08

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.14 2.53 0.55 6.45 2.80mm 5.09 1.40 0.06 1.78 89.51 0.02 97.86

Total Weight 26.21 1.99 0.10 4.51 776.14 0.02 808.97

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 3.24 0.25 0.01 0.56 95.94 6.30mm 237.88 16.29 2.14 72.27 302.16 51.43 0.16

Weight (g) >2.80mm 24.75 4.72 15.56 24.85 7.84 0.08 0.04

0.11 4.19 686.63

0.11 11.56 89.51

196

Total Weight 262.63 21.01 17.70 72.27 327.01 59.27 0.16 0.08 0.04 0.11 0.11 15.75 776.14

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 34.54 2.76 2.33 9.50 43.01 7.79 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 99.99

Appendix E. Bulk Sample Analysis and Invertebrate Data Table E.31. Site 781T excavation unit 4 layer 4 bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 323.86 1.42 0.02 4.51 274.21

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

604.02

Weight (g) >2.80mm 53.98 5.37 0.32 5.65 100.34 1.02 166.68

Total Weight 377.84 6.79 0.34 10.16 374.55 1.02 770.70

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 49.03 0.88 0.04 1.32 48.60 0.13 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Nuttall’s Cockle Horse Clam Butter Clam Littleneck Unidentified Clam Unidentified Limpet Checkered Periwinkle Moonsnail Terrestrial Snail Black Katy Chiton Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell Total

>6.30mm 22.84 13.08 3.22

Weight (g) >2.80mm 7.28 13.66 34.17 0.13 0.10

70.15 60.20 94.35

Total Weight 30.12 26.74 37.39 0.13 0.10 70.15 67.70 116.84 1.40mm 57.52 47.11 94.58 111.84 98.07 86.49 134.10 97.30 159.07

>0.710mm 46.82 42.42 60.74 78.84 124.78 65.83 87.64 79.72 157.48

6.30mm 425.51

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

14.12 0.58 0.93 441.14

Weight (g) >2.80mm 169.06 1.26 2.02 0.04 0.06 12.55 184.99

Total Weight 594.57 1.26 16.14 0.62 0.06 13.48 626.13

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.06 0.06

Total Weight 0.06 0.06

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 94.96 0.20 2.58 0.10 0.01 2.15 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

Unidentified Shell Total

Frequency of Identified Shell (%)

Table E.35. Site 785T excavation unit 1 layer 2-B bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 311.14 0.74 4.25 1.17 2.18

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

319.48

Weight (g) >2.80mm 143.42 3.14 1.70 1.15 0.87 1.13 151.41

Total Weight 454.56 3.88 5.95 2.32 3.05 1.13 470.89

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.12 0.05 0.38 6.30mm 395.50 0.58 1.37 0.84 261.54

Weight (g) >2.80mm 68.50 1.33 0.53 2.48 97.21

Total Weight 464.00 1.91 1.90 3.32 358.75

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 55.91 0.23 0.23 0.40 43.23

659.83

170.05

829.88

100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Nuttall’s Cockle Butter Clam Littleneck Unidentified Clam Unidentified Limpet Sitka Periwinkle Lurid Rocksnail Marine Snail Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell Total

>6.30mm 0.64 6.73 2.75 1.37 18.83 33.00 193.58

Weight (g) >2.80mm 1.28 2.12 54.47 0.10 4.01 18.45 0.02

0.22 0.55

3.87 261.54

0.74 0.47 15.55 97.21

198

Total Weight 1.92 8.85 57.22 1.47 18.83 37.01 212.03 0.02 0.22 0.55 0.74 0.47 19.42 358.75

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 0.57 2.61 16.86 0.43 5.55 10.91 62.48 0.01 0.06 0.16 0.22 0.14 100.00

Appendix E. Bulk Sample Analysis and Invertebrate Data

Table E.37. Site 785T excavation unit 1 layer 4 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 955.50 0.13 0.60 0.36 2.38

Weight (g) >2.80mm 300.16 0.92 0.10 0.32 5.66

Total Weight 1255.66 1.05 0.70 0.68 8.04

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 99.17 0.08 0.06 0.05 0.64

958.97

307.16

1266.13

100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

California Mussel Small Mussel Littleneck Unidentified Clam Unidentified Shell Total

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.10 0.49

0.16 2.22 2.38

0.24 4.83 5.66

Total Weight 0.10 0.49 0.16 0.24 7.05 8.04

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 10.10 49.49 16.16 24.24 99.99

Table E.38. Site 785T excavation unit 1 layer 5 bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 438.29

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

0.16

438.45

Weight (g) >2.80mm 134.44 0.06 0.13 0.05 0.16

Total Weight 572.73 0.06 0.29 0.05 0.16

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 99.90 0.01 0.05 0.01 0.03

134.84

573.29

100.00

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.01 0.08 0.07 0.16

Total Weight 0.01 0.08 0.07 0.16

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

Barnacle Small Mussel Unidentified Shell Total

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 11.11 88.89 100.00

Table E.39. Site 785T excavation unit 2 layer 2 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 345.15 0.05 0.71

Weight (g) >2.80mm 237.24 1.56 0.76 0.02

Total Weight 582.39 1.61 1.47 0.02

4.30 350.21

9.08 248.66

13.38 598.87

199

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 97.25 0.27 0.25 6.30mm 609.40 1.84 0.46 1.76 291.87

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

905.33

Weight (g) >2.80mm 115.45 5.96 0.19 2.09 141.39 1.17 266.25

Total Weight 724.85 7.80 0.65 3.85 433.26 1.17 1171.58

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 61.87 0.67 0.06 0.33 36.98 0.10 100.01

Invertebrate Remains: Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.07 0.13 97.28 0.51

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) Total Weight Barnacle 0.07 0.02 California Mussel 0.13 0.03 Small Mussel 13.91 111.19 26.92 Nuttall’s Cockle 5.91 6.42 1.55 Horse Clam 34.47 34.47 8.35 Butter Clam 54.39 54.39 13.17 Littleneck 6.62 1.89 8.51 2.06 Unidentified Clam* 174.40 21.42 195.82 47.42 Unidentified Limpet 0.04 0.04 0.01 Sitka Periwinkle 0.50 0.50 0.12 Lurid Rocksnail 0.24 0.24 0.06 Marine Snail 0.65 0.65 0.16 Terrestrial Snail 0.05 0.05 0.01 Sea Urchin 0.50 0.50 0.12 Unidentified Shell** 1.38 18.90 20.28 Total 291.87 141.39 433.26 100.00 *Unidentified clam probably dominated by butter clam. **Unidentified shell probably contains substantial amounts of mussel. Taxon

>6.30mm

Table E.41. Site 785T excavation unit 2 layer 4 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 542.05 0.66 1.72 0.68 545.11

Weight (g) >2.80mm 174.21 2.27 0.02 1.76 3.32 1.92 183.50

Total Weight 716.26 2.93 0.02 3.48 4.00 1.92 728.61

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 98.30 0.40 6.30mm 0.02 0.66

0.68

Weight (g) >2.80mm 1.81 2.80mm 0.03 0.03 0.61 0.21 0.06 0.32 1.26

Total Weight 0.03 0.03 0.61 1.23 0.06 0.32 2.28

>6.30mm 333.66

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Unidentified Clam Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell Total

1.02

1.02

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 1.53 1.53 31.12 62.76 3.06 100.00

the analysis of three bulk samples in this unit. Layer 2a represents a lense of dense whole and broken shell, and was one of the few shell rich matrices encountered at the site. The semi-protected, rocky setting of the site is reflected in the dominance of California mussel and giant barnacle in the invertebrate assemblage.

E.6 Site 923T Bulk Samples Shell, as well as bone and other cultural materials, was generally rare in deposits from site 923T (Appendices B, C and D). Bulk samples were analysed for the primary cultural layers in only one of the units (unit 2) excavated in 2000. Tables E.43 through E.47 present the results of

Table E.43. Site 923T bulk samples. Unit

Layer

923T2A 923T2A 923T2A

2 2a 3

Depth (cm BUD) 10 – 20 25 – 35 35 – 45

Description black greasy soil whole and crushed shell lense brown beach cobbles and gravel

Total Dry Volume (ml) 1050 1000 1600

Total Dry Weight (g) 1546.50 1472.32 3207.08

Table E.44. Site 923T bulk sample matrix size data. Unit

Layer

923T2A 923T2A 923T2A

2 2a 3

>6.30mm 881.58 910.55 2291.41

>2.80mm 220.87 224.37 477.42

Weight (g) >1.40mm 171.37 112.42 150.44

>0.710mm 122.20 86.36 83.99

2.80mm 209.83 2.50 4.83 0.13 0.24 3.34 220.87

Total Weight 1085.13 3.33 7.08 0.13 3.44 3.34 1102.45

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 98.43 0.30 0.64 0.01 0.31 0.30 99.99

>6.30mm 3.20 3.20

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.24 0.24

Total Weight 3.44 3.44

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 100.00 100.00

>6.30mm 875.30 0.83 2.25 3.20

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon California Mussel Total

201

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods

Table E.46. Site 923T excavation unit 2 layer 2a bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 725.10 1.83 4.44

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

179.18 910.55

Weight (g) >2.80mm 186.85 2.95 2.99 0.17 28.56 2.85 224.37

Total Weight 911.95 4.78 7.43 0.17 207.74 2.85 1134.92

Weight (g) >2.80mm 4.64 22.96 0.03 0.93 28.56

Total Weight 20.28 185.22 0.03 2.21 207.74

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 80.35 0.42 0.65 0.01 18.30 0.25 99.98

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Giant Barnacle California Mussel Large Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell Total

>6.30mm 15.64 162.26 1.28 179.18

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 9.87 90.12 0.01 100.00

Table E.47. Site 923T excavation unit 2 layer 3 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 2281.90 0.41 1.81 7.29 2291.41

Weight (g) >2.80mm 470.68 1.42 1.70 0.09 3.33 0.20 477.42

Total Weight 2752.58 1.83 3.51 0.09 10.62 0.20 2768.83

Weight (g) >2.80mm 2.62 0.70 2.80mm 115.66 231.14 98.03 157.11 44.65 204.91 370.15

Weight (g) >1.40mm 52.32 138.34 51.36 122.10 27.22 94.77 161.97

>0.710mm 46.54 112.31 40.92 93.23 24.87 80.06 41.56

6.30mm 334.69 0.65 0.23 0.13 6.05 11.11 352.86

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

Weight (g) >2.80mm 88.26 5.77 1.67 0.19 3.70 16.07 115.66

Total Weight 422.95 6.42 1.90 0.32 9.75 27.18 468.52

Weight (g) >2.80mm 1.79 0.68 1.23 3.70

Total Weight 1.79 5.20 2.76 9.75

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 90.27 1.37 0.41 0.07 2.08 5.80 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

Small Mussel Unidentified Clam Unidentified Shell Total

4.52 1.53 6.05

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 25.61 74.39 100.00

Table E.51. Site 924T excavation unit 2 layer 3 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 364.50 1.56 2.00 3.49 128.98 500.53

Weight (g) >2.80mm 112.29 3.96 0.91 2.87 107.43 3.68 231.14

Total Weight 476.79 5.52 2.91 6.36 236.41 3.68 731.67

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 65.16 0.75 0.40 0.87 32.31 0.50 99.99

Invertebrate Remains: Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.03 0.06 92.10 0.27

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) Total Weight Barnacle 0.03 0.01 California Mussel 0.06 0.03 Small Mussel 6.71 98.81 42.47 Nuttall’s Cockle 1.13 1.40 0.60 Butter Clam 13.82 13.82 5.94 Littleneck 0.29 0.47 0.76 0.33 Unidentified Clam* 102.11 12.53 114.64 49.27 Unidentified Limpet 2.80mm 75.38 2.08 0.58

Total Weight 592.68 2.36 2.54

1.07 5.12 525.73

0.34 19.65 98.03

1.41 24.77 623.76

>6.30mm 0.31 0.76 1.07

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.20 0.14 0.34

Total Weight 0.51 0.90 1.41

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 95.02 0.38 0.41 0.00 0.23 3.97 100.01

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Unidentified Clam Unidentified Shell Total

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 100.00 100.00

Table E.53. Site 924T excavation unit 3 layer 3 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 188.65 1.16 0.05 2.00 256.29 448.15

Weight (g) >2.80mm 73.94 4.38 0.24 2.79 67.48 8.28 157.11

Total Weight 262.59 5.54 0.29 4.79 323.77 8.28 605.26

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 43.38 0.92 0.05 0.79 53.49 1.37 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Giant Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Nuttall’s Cockle Horse Clam Butter Clam Littleneck Unidentified Clam Terrestrial Snail Unidentified Shell Total

>6.30mm 0.45 1.82 2.35 4.57 1.12 83.86 1.69 155.48 0.43 4.52 256.29

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.71 2.27 33.94 0.02

0.29 14.71 0.19 15.35 67.48

204

Total Weight 1.16 4.09 36.29 4.59 1.12 83.86 1.98 170.19 0.62 19.87 323.77

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 0.38 1.35 11.94 1.51 0.37 27.59 0.65 56.00 0.20 99.99

Appendix E. Bulk Sample Analysis and Invertebrate Data Table E.54. Site 924T excavation unit 3 layer 4 bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 1605.70 0.10

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

0.51 38.12 6.52 1650.95

Weight (g) >2.80mm 28.38 0.36 0.15 1.14 12.44 2.18 44.65

Total Weight 1634.08 0.46 0.15 1.65 50.56 8.70 1695.60

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 96.37 0.03 0.01 0.10 2.98 0.51 100.00

Invertebrate Remains: Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.98

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) Total Weight Barnacle 1.59 3.42 California Mussel 0.82 1.76 Small Mussel 6.10 6.10 13.12 Butter Clam 0.77 0.77 1.66 Littleneck 1.92 1.92 4.13 Unidentified Clam* 32.20 2.64 34.84 74.91 Unidentified Limpet 0.03 0.03 0.06 Red Turban (Opercula) 0.15 0.15 0.32 Sitka Periwinkle 0.18 0.18 0.39 Terrestrial Snail 0.11 0.11 0.24 Unidentified Shell 1.80 2.25 4.05 Total 38.12 12.44 50.56 100.01 *The unidentified clam category is likely dominated by butter clam. Taxon

>6.30mm 0.61 0.82

Table E.55. Site 924T excavation unit 3 layer 5 bulk sample analysis. Material

>6.30mm 450.80 1.86 0.34 0.24

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

453.24

Weight (g) >2.80mm 177.24 5.17 0.26 1.39 2.01 18.84 204.91

Total Weight 628.04 7.03 0.60 1.63 2.01 18.84 658.15

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.86 0.40 0.75 2.01

Total Weight 0.86 0.40 0.75 2.01

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 95.43 1.07 0.09 0.25 0.31 2.86 100.01

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon

>6.30mm

Small Mussel Unidentified Clam Unidentified Shell Total

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 68.25 31.75 100.00

Table E.56. Site 924T excavation unit 3 layer 6 bulk sample analysis. Material Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

>6.30mm 697.80 0.08 0.04

697.92

Weight (g) >2.80mm 367.94 0.93 0.31 0.10 0.61 0.26 370.15

Total Weight 1065.74 1.01 0.35 0.10 0.61 0.26 1068.07

Weight (g) >2.80mm 0.06 0.31 0.14 0.10 0.61

Total Weight 0.06 0.31 0.14 0.10 0.61

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 99.78 0.09 0.03 0.01 0.06 0.02 99.99

Invertebrate Remains: Taxon Small Mussel Unidentified Clam Marine Snail Unidentified Shell Total

>6.30mm

205

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) 11.76 60.78 27.45 99.99

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods

Two samples from the shell-free deposits in unit 2 are roughly analogous to the similarly shell-free deposits found in unit 4. These samples produced no shell and only a trace amount of bone, and the cultural or natural origin of these deposits is unclear (see Appendix B). The single bulk sample analysed from the shallow, unstratified deposits of unit 3 is also felt to be representative of the similar deposits excavated in unit 5. This sample produced considerable amounts of both bone and shell. The invertebrate assemblage is dominated by small mussel and clam, reflecting the protected location and the cobble beach and estuarine mudflats fronting the site.

E.8 Site 1134T Bulk Samples Excavations at site 1134T tested two very different but related sets of deposits within a small area (ca. 5m by 5m) of the site. Excavation units 2 and 4 produced very little in the way of environmental remains, but produced large numbers of contact period artifacts. In contrast, units 3 and 5, located roughly 2 metres immediately shoreward of the previous units, tested dense, but shallow shell midden deposits containing considerable amounts of shell and bone. Bulk samples from two of these units, units 2 and 3, were analysed (Tables E.57 to E.61), as these samples were felt to be largely representative of the deposits encountered during all excavations at the site.

Table E.57. Site 1134T bulk samples. Unit

Layer

1134T2A 1134T2A 1134T3A

2 3 1

Depth (cm BUD) 30 – 60 70 – 100 0 – 25

Total Dry Volume (ml) 550 650 1000

Description black soil and gravel brown gravel and cobbles crushed shell in black soil

Total Dry Weight (g) 784.00 1097.20 968.21

Table E.58. Site 1134T bulk sample matrix size data. Unit

Layer

1134T2A 1134T2A 1134T3A

2 3 1

>6.30mm 389.44 437.94 386.48

>2.80mm 205.28 402.41 215.41

Weight (g) >1.40mm 83.29 213.83 105.31

>0.710mm 42.16 26.86 79.40

6.30mm 388.70 0.54 0.20

389.44

Weight (g) >2.80mm 203.65 1.33 0.22 6.30mm 352.44 3.64 0.06 4.84 19.92 5.58 386.48

Rock Charcoal Flora Bone Total Shell Residue/Dirt Total

Total Weight 496.72 10.21 1.18 10.50 63.07 20.21 601.89

Relative Frequency of Total Weight (%) 82.53 1.70 0.20 1.74 10.48 3.36 100.01

Invertebrate Remains: Weight (g) >2.80mm 1.05 0.12 40.43

Frequency of Identified Shell (%) Total Weight Barnacle 1.10 1.76 California Mussel 0.12 0.19 Small Mussel 6.01 46.44 74.19 Butter Clam 0.71 0.71 1.13 Littleneck 4.06 4.06 6.49 Unidentified Clam 8.94 0.23 9.17 14.65 Bittium 0.03 0.03 0.05 Green Sea Urchin* 0.97 0.97 1.55 Unidentified Shell 0.15 0.32 0.47 Total 19.92 43.15 63.07 100.01 *Matrix portions 6.30mm 0.05

data for invertebrates encountered in each of the excavated sites. Due to the often very large quantities of shell remains encountered in many excavated deposits, no attempt was made to collect all shell remains. Rather, bulk samples, summarised in the previous sections, provide a means of quantifying the relative abundance of

E.9 Invertebrate Remains from Excavation Levels As indicated in the introduction above, judgmental representative samples of invertebrates were collected during in-field wet-screening of excavation level matrices. The following tables provide presence/absence

Table E.62. Site 699T – invertebrate taxa identified from judgmentally collected shell samples. Invertebrate Taxon Layer 1 Giant Barnacle Unidentified Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Giant Rock Scallop Horse Clam Butter Clam Pacific Littleneck Unidentified Clam Whitecap Limpet Shield Limpet Unidentified Limpet Sitka Periwinkle Checkered Periwinkle Lurid Rocksnail Frilled Dogwinkle Channelled Dogwinkle Striped Dogwinkle Unidentified Dogwinkle Dire Whelk Unid. Marine Snail Unid. Terrestrial Snail Mopalia sp. Black Katy Chiton Giant Pacific Chiton Unid. Chiton Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell

X

699T4A Layer 2 Layer 3 X X X X X X X X X X X

Layer 4 X X X

699T5A Layer 1 Layer 2 X X X X X

Layer 1 X X

X X X X

X

X

X

X X X X

699T6A Layer 2 X X X

Layer 3 X X

X

X X X X

X

X X X X

X X

X

X

X

X X

X X X

X X X

207

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X X X X X X X

X

X

X X

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods the more common invertebrate taxa present in each excavated matrix. During fieldwork, screeners were instructed to retain one or a few examples of each unique type of shell they encountered while washing and screening excavated matrices. Though the resulting samples do not provide systematic data on the relative abundances of invertebrate taxa, they do provide insight into the diversity of taxa represented in each excavation

unit. This is of particular relevance for rare taxa which may not have been encountered in the limited bulk samples.

Table E.63. Site 717T – invertebrate taxa identified from judgmentally collected shell samples. Invertebrate Taxon

717T1A Layer 2 X X

Layer 1 Giant Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Nuttall’s Cockle Butter Clam Pacific Littleneck Unidentified Clam Sitka Periwinkle Unidentified Dogwinkle Dire Whelk Unid. Marine Snail Black Katy Chiton Sea Urchin

Layer 3 X

X X X X X X X X X X X

Table E.64. Site 740T – invertebrate taxa identified from judgmentally collected shell samples. Invertebrate Taxon Unidentified Barnacle California Mussel Horse Clam Butter Clam Pacific Littleneck Unidentified Clam Red Turban Unidentified Margarite Shield Limpet Mask Limpet Unidentified Limpet Checkered Periwinkle Frilled Dogwinkle Channelled Dogwinkle Dire Whelk Carinate Dovesnail Baetic Olive Unid. Marine Snail Unid. Terrestrial Snail Black Katy Chiton Giant Pacific Chiton Unid. Chiton Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell

740T1A Layer 2 X X

Layer 1 X X

X X X

740T2A Layer 2 X X X X

Layer 3 X X

X X

X X X X X X X X X

X X

X X

X X X

X

X X X

X

X X X X

X X X

X X

208

X

Appendix E. Bulk Sample Analysis and Invertebrate Data

Table E.65. Site 781T – invertebrate taxa identified from judgmentally collected shell samples from excavation units 1 and 2. Invertebrate Taxon Giant Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Giant Rock Scallop Nuttall’s Cockle Horse Clam Butter Clam Pacific Littleneck Unidentified Clam Northern Abalone Shield Limpet Sitka Periwinkle Lewis’s Moonsnail Unidentified Moonsnail Leafy Hornmouth Frilled Dogwinkle Striped Dogwinkle Unidentified Amphissa Unid. Marine Snail Unid. Terrestrial Snail Black Katy Chiton Sea Urchin

781T1A Layer 3 X X

Layer 2 X X

Layer 4

781T2A Layer 3 X X X X X X X X X X X X X

Layer 2

X X X X X

X

X X

Layer 4 X X

X X X X

X X

X

X

X X

X

X X X X

X

X

X

Table E.66. Site 781T – invertebrate taxa identified from judgmentally collected shell samples from excavation units 3 and 4. Invertebrate Taxon Giant Barnacle Acorn Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Giant Rock Scallop Nuttall’s Cockle Horse Clam Butter Clam Pacific Littleneck Unidentified Clam Mask Limpet Unidentified Limpet Sitka Periwinkle Checkered Periwinkle Unidentified Bittium Lewis’s Moonsnail Leafy Hornmouth Lurid Rocksnail File Dogwinkle Unidentified Dogwinkle Dire Whelk Unid. Marine Snail Unid. Terrestrial Snail Black Katy Chiton Sea Urchin

781T3A Layer 2 Layer 3 X X X

Layer 2

X

X

781T4A Layer 3 X X X X X X

X X

X X X

X

X X X X X X X X X X X X

Layer 4 X X X X X X X X

X

X X X X

X X X

209

X X

Continuity and Change in Haida Economy during the Late Holocene and Maritime Fur Trade Periods

Table E.67. Site 785T – invertebrate taxa identified from judgmentally collected shell samples. Invertebrate Taxon Layer 2 Giant Barnacle Unidentified Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Giant Rock Scallop Nuttall’s Cockle Horse Clam Butter Clam Pacific Littleneck Northern Abalone Red Turban Unidentified Margarite Shield Limpet Mask Limpet Unidentified Limpet Sitka Periwinkle Checkered Periwinkle Unidentified Bittium Lurid Rocksnail Unidentified Dogwinkle Dire Whelk Unid. Marine Snail Unid. Terrestrial Snail Black Katy Chiton Giant Pacific Chiton Sea Urchin

785T1A Layer 3 X X X

X X

Layer 4

Layer 2

X X X X X

X

X X X X

X

X

X

X

X

X X X X X X X

785T2A Layer 3 Layer 4 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

X

X X

X X X X X

X X

X

X X X X

X

X X

Layer 5

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

Table E.68. Site 923T – invertebrate taxa identified from judgmentally collected shell samples. Invertebrate Taxon Unidentified Barnacle California Mussel Giant Rock Scallop Butter Clam Unidentified Clam Northern Abalone Shield Limpet Wrinkled Slippersnail Unid. Marine Snail Giant Pacific Chiton Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell

Layer 2 X X X X X X

923T1A Layer 3 Layer 4

Layer 5

X

923T2A Layer 2 Layer 4 X X X X

X

X X X X X

X

210

X

Appendix E. Bulk Sample Analysis and Invertebrate Data Table E.69. Site 924T – invertebrate taxa identified from judgmentally collected shell samples. Invertebrate Taxon Large Crab Giant Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Giant Rock Scallop Nuttall’s Cockle Horse Clam Butter Clam Pacific Littleneck Unidentified Clam Northern Abalone Red Turban Mask Limpet Unidentified Limpet Sitka Periwinkle Checkered Periwinkle Lewis’s Moonsnail Leafy Hornmouth Lurid Rocksnail File Dogwinkle Unidentified Dogwinkle Unid. Marine Snail Unid. Terrestrial Snail Black Katy Chiton

924T1A Layer 2

X

924T2A Layer 2 Layer 3 X X X X X X X X X X X

Layer 2

Layer 3

X

X X X X X X X X

X X X X X

924T3A Layer 4

Layer 5

X X

X X X

X X

Unidentified Tube Worm Unidentified Barnacle California Mussel Small Mussel Nuttall’s Cockle Butter Clam Pacific Littleneck Arctic Hiatella Unidentified Clam Shield Limpet Plate Limpet Mask Limpet Sitka Periwinkle Checkered Periwinkle Unidentified Bittium Unidentified Dogwinkle Unid. Marine Snail Unid. Terrestrial Snail Giant Pacific Chiton Sea Urchin Unidentified Shell

X

X X X X

X

X X X

X X X X X X X X X X

X

Table E.70. Site 1134T – invertebrate taxa identified from judgmentally collected shell samples. Invertebrate Taxon

Layer 6

1134T3A Layer 1 Feature 1 X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

1134T4A Layer 2

1134T5A Layer 1

X X

X X

X X

X X

X

X X

X

X X

211

X X X X

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